


Marvel At The Puppet Master

by itz_blitz_tyme



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Deadpool - All Media Types, Iron Man (Movies), Marvel (Movies), Puppet Master (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies), X-Men (Movies)
Genre: Bigotry & Prejudice, Blood and Gore, Explicit Language, F/M, Gen, Inappropriate Humor, Medical Torture, Multi, Sexual Content, Team as Family, extreme violence, madness of Deadpool
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-01
Updated: 2015-05-21
Packaged: 2018-02-27 17:43:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 32,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2701682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itz_blitz_tyme/pseuds/itz_blitz_tyme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Deadpool is hired to track down a possible threat against humanity and either capture them or kill them if they do not agree to S.H.E.I.L.D's demands of them. Problem is, the target is a very pretty lady with very dangerous puppets protecting her and Hydra is after them too.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

October 24, 1985

"Now if you will sign here and here and here. As soon as you sign these papers, Mister Toulon, the whole house will be yours as well as everything else in it." The lawyer had said, showing the man where to sign. 

Franklin Toulon nodded as he signed the papers with a quick scrawl, wanting to get rid of the lawyer as quick as possible. He had things to do right now. He had to find what he was looking for. He had been searching for seventeen years now. Ever since he heard the stories from his grandfather. 

In the beginning he had been planning to use them. But it all changed when she came into his life. He was going to use them for his own greed. But she changed his heart.  
Now he was going to use them to protect her. He needed them to protect her. And they needed him to protect them. 

Franklin had to find them before they came for them. Before they came for her. He had known that they would try and come after her. She was......different, after all. Though their whole line of the family tree had been quite odd. And it had started with his great great Grandfather, once a well known and respected German scientist and......dare he say it, entertainer. 

"All right, Mister Toulon. I believe that is all in order. The manor is yours. Oh, didn't you have a child.......?" The lawyer had been saying. 

Franklin's heart nearly stopped and he whipped about looking for the child in speaking. He didn't see her! "Elle!" He called now hurrying to the door way with the lawyer right behind him. He quickly looked around for the girl, his heart beating rapidly. "Elle!" He called again before his head jerked up to the stairs where he saw her coming down. 

The girl was no older than five years old, if not even six years old. She was a petite and cute little one with dark brown hair in pig tails and bows in them. Her brilliant green eyes sparkled with life as she came down the stairs, holding something close to her. 

An eerie looking doll. 

"Daddy! Look what I found! Can I keep him?" Little Elle said as she scampered over to her father, holding up the doll so he could see it. 

And Franklin's face lit up in surprise while the lawyer gaped in horror and disgust of the thing the girl was holding. 

Carefully taking the red and black dressed doll, the father smiled as he looked at the pale painted face with two lines running from across its forehead and its mouth. It looked like there were three parts of its head, which had a dual curled jester's hat and it looked like a jester. Its mouth painted a bright red and it had pink dabbed cheeks, very much like a clown's. 

But nonetheless, Franklin smiled as he held the doll, looking right into its shaded deep blue eyes. "Hello, Jester." He murmured softly before looking at the lawyer who was eyeing the doll, or rather puppet with disgust. "Is there a problem?" He asked now frowning. 

"That thing is creepy looking. Hideous. You know, if you want, I can call up some movers and have them come take some of the stuff off your hands. Maybe even take them to the dump for inciner......." he was saying. 

Franklin drew the Jester doll close to him as if protecting it, while the little girl gasped in horror and clutched onto his thigh. "That will be unnecessary. Now, if we are done here, leave. My daughter and I want to look around the mansion on our own." He said coolly. 

The lawyer grimaced before nodding as he turned and headed straight for the door, pausing to grab the papers that had been signed and stuffed them into his briefcase. He was soon gone, muttering something about junk and trashing it. 

But Franklin didn't care for his mutterings. He instead looked at the Jester in his hands before looking at his daughter. "Elles, where did you find Jester?" He asked softly as he took her hand. 

Giggling, the little girl dragged him towards the stairs and up. She paused at the top, holding her hands out for the doll. "Can I hold him?" She asked sweetly.  
Hesitating, Franklin looked back at the doll before sighing and smiling. "Don't hurt her, okay? We have come for you and the others. We were sent by Robert to come get you and the trunk. We are family." He said softly before he handed the doll to Elle. "Take very good care of him, Elle. He is special. Treat him like you want to be treated. Don't throw him around, all right?" He told her. 

Giggling, Elle nodded as she hugged the doll close to her before she took her father's hand and pulled him into a small jog down a long, very dusty hall way.  
It didn't take long for them to reach a large chamber like bedroom, where Elle hurried over to a very large wardrobe and pulled open the doors.  
Inside, Franklin found a hidden door in the far back of the wardrobe where there was a very old traveling trunk was hidden. It was slightly open, which he finished opening and smiled at the contents. "Here you all are. Hello, gentlemen, ladies. I am Franklin Toulon. Great, great Grandson of your original master. We came for you because they are coming. Hyrda is coming for you and the formula." He said into the shadows, and a few growls and hisses answered back, which he nodded slowly before motioning to the bright eyed girl next to him. "This is my daughter, Eleanor Toulon. I need your help, my new friends. Hydra wants her just like you. She is......she is special. She is just like Andre Toulon, in a way. She can protect you as long as you protect her. What do you say? Want to come with us? We can take the Nazis out together if they come after us." He said offering his hand, though somewhat uneasily. 

There was a long pause before something moved in the trunk and a silver hook was offered to Franklin. 

Smiling, Franklin took the hook carefully and shook it gently as if sealing a deal. "Deal. Now let's get to work." He said reaching for the trunk to pull it out of hiding. From one hiding place to another, at least Elle and the puppets would be out of Hydra's hands. That is, if Franklin could find somewhere to hide with them and prepare Elle for what was to come.


	2. Chapter One

Present Day-

"Today is a big day for the city of New York, everyone! Especially for the big celebration of the Grand Opening of the new Avengers Museum, where anyone, young and old are welcomed to come know all about the wonders of our world and even in new dimensions!" The news reporter was going on excitedly in front of the camera. 

"This new museum was built and founded by none other than Anthony Stark, one of the world's most rich and powerful men! It was to help people understand things they did not understand about. Such as scientific experiments gone wrong, mutations in human gene pools, such as mutants of the world, and even of new worlds like where the devilishly handsome and definitely a god like Thor had come from! This museum is to help the understanding of Scientifics for people! Ever since three years ago when the President of the United States out ruled the prejudice of mutants and even a year ago when the new team of heroes, the Avengers saved the entire world from out worldly invaders, things have begun changing for the better." The reporter went on. 

"People of the world have finally taken into consideration of what they do not understand and have finally decided to start learning of why things are the way they are. As the President had said, we cannot judge of those who were judged before without understanding the nature of things. We must understand different sides of a square. Look at things before making the assessment of judgment. And ever since he made that historical speech and began interacting with different races and even species of the unusual, people have joined him into learning.

"And at the goading of The Avengers, their selves, people began to realize that things were not all black and white. Now as peace settles around the world with dealing with things like mutants, it goes to show that may be we were wrong. And it was words of another New York hero, Spider Man, great power comes with great responsibility, did everything start to change." 

The reporter continued to save as she smiled at the camera. "Heroes have been popping up in different cities because of the acts of the Avengers. Villains have risen and then fallen when these heroes stood up and started protecting innocent lives. Some of those heroes were mutants, of all things. Heroes like the group of mutants called the X-Men. Crime rates have gone down in incredible rates because of heroic individuals and even groups. And that is why the new museum had been built by billionaire, playboy, Tony Stark! But be careful, ladies, and try not to cry too hard but Mister Tony Stark is no longer available! Rumor has it that our handsome billionaire is no longer a bachelor! He is now engaged to his former assistant now CEO of Stark Industries, Pepper Potts, who has done amazing wonders with the company! Come on down, everyone! The museum is amazing and there are so many amazing facts and even amazing information about all kinds of things! But you will just have to see for your se.........!" 

Blip!

The large screen blinked into blackness and un-amused looks  
were sent in the direction of Tony Stark while Pepper Potts was fixing his silk tie. Every one of The Avengers was in the Stark Tower having arrived not too long ago. They were all wearing fashionable outfits or gorgeous dresses as if they were going to a gala. 

"What?" Tony asked as if he was being accused of something. 

"Since when did you get engaged?" Natasha Romanov asked as she placed her hands on her slim waist covered in black and red silk. 

Pepper turned from Tony, smiling as she pulled off her silky white glove on her left hand to show a gorgeous silver and white diamond ring. "Since last week." She said smiling, her pretty face flushing pink. 

There was a pause throughout the entire room as everyone stared before everyone suddenly cheered and stepped over to congratulate the new engaged couple. 

Thor pounded on Tony's back heartily nearly knocking the air out of the billionaire. Correction, he did knock the air out of him. Steve Rogers and Clint Barton both grinned shaking his hand while Bruce Banner simply shook his hand and congratulated him. 

Natasha and Jane Foster, who was not an Avenger but was Thor's date, were cooing over Pepper's ring and hugging her before they both slugged Tony in the shoulder, warning him not to mess up. 

He really appreciated that comment from both of them.

"Mister Stark," the voice of the AI, JARVIS spoke up. "The limo has arrived at Stark Tower to take you and your guests to the Grand Opening of the........" 

"Yeah, yeah, Jarvis. Thanks." Tony interrupted with a wave of his hand before straightening his thousand dollar suit. "All right, ladies, gentlemen, let's go to the museum." 

The new museum was packed with people, young and old. They were all coming to see the new museum that Tony Stark had had built in the name of new and old superheroes, as well as to see what kind of information they could learn about what they did not understand. 

When the long stretched white limo drove up to the front where a red carpet was rolled up to the front entrance, people went wild and photographers began snapping pictures, awaiting for who was inside. They went really wild when the doors open to emit the Avengers. People were screaming and cheering as one by one the members of The Avengers got out of the vehicles and waving at all of their fans. 

Walking down the red carpet, The Avengers did pause to take pictures with their fans and even sign autographs. 

Finally reaching the top step of the entrance, Tony was the one to take the podium to make his Grand Opening speech. He waited until the entire crowd silenced before clearing his throat. 

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, we, The Avengers, meaning me." Tony joked and everyone in the crowd laughed while the other Avengers rolled their eyes. "Come before you to open this most awesome museum and yada yada yada." He shrugged before waving towards the doors. "Instead of doing this stupid speech, why don't just go......"

Before he could even finish, a young man hurried up and tapped on his shoulder, looking quite frantic. He looked as if he had run from a long way and was whispering quietly to Tony, who froze with a frown. 

This was not how he wanted things to turn out but it seemed that something else was calling his attention. He listened to the man before frowning and looking at the awaiting crowd. "Uh.....better hold that thought." He said before looking at the frowning others of his team. He motioned to them to follow the young man, who was hurrying back into the museum. 

"What's going on?" Pepper asked as she hurried to Tony's side and then froze when they entered. 

All of The Avengers froze with shock and horror on what had happened to the very front entrance of the museum. They couldn't believe the horrors inside, which was enough to say. 

Where banners and pictures of The Avengers were was a series of graffiti. Someone had spray painted all over their faces and even some crude looking words. Pictures of Natasha had some awkward looking images. Someone had spray painted nude breasts on her chest and wrote BOOBIES! on the side. 

On a banner of Bruce, someone painted his skin green and wrote, Me Angry! Hulk smash! 

Someone also painted black rings around Captain America's eyes and even made it look like he had lazy eyes. It was completely opposite of what he was. But someone made the intention that all he was big, strong and dumb. The same went for Thor, looking almost exactly like Captain America. 

"What the hell?" Clint asked looking around with wide eyes at all of the destroyed exhibits all around them. His face darkened when he saw a picture of himself with worms drawn coming out of his mouth and words were saying, "Yum, yum. I am a little birdie who likes worms!" 

Yeah, he was not happy about that one. 

The young man was quickly joined by an older gentleman, who was the curator of the museum. He was looking frantic as he pointed towards a large door way where it sad Mutations exhibits. 

"Mister Stark! The vandal is still in the Mutations section! He is destroying the banner of the X-Men, sir!" He said hurriedly. 

Tony did not look pleased as he led the way towards the Mutations section. "Where the hell are the guards?! Who the hell is this kid?" He demanded as he stormed towards the door way and then he froze when he got there. 

Several men in uniforms were hanging by their feet from the supporting beam, all tied up in duct tape of all things! They were alive, but seriously ruffled and it looked like they had been beaten to the inches of their lives. 

As it was, insane laughter was coming from inside the Mutations section. As well as loud thunks, like knives being thrown into the wall. 

Pushing forward, Tony and the Avengers quickly entered the Mutations exhibit and froze, once again. 

On the exhibits, the same nature to well known mutants had been done like the Avengers and some of them were demolished. Especially of the X-Man called Wolverine. His face was painted over or there were knives sticking out of his eyes. Someone.......was definitely not pleased with him. 

And in the middle of the room, standing near a banner of the X-Men, carving holes into Wolverine's face was a man. 

The man was completely garbed in red and black leather, from head to toe. There was a pair of swords strapped to his back and twin guns strapped on his waist. An empty knife holster was strapped to his obviously muscled leg, the large hunting knife being used to carve Wolverine's face. The man, himself, was giggling and talking to someone.....well, himself. 

"Who the hell are you and why are the hell did you just destroy my museum?" Tony asked not pleased whatsoever. 

The leather clad head tilted in his direction but didn't turn all of the way. "Oh, looky, fellas. We have the richy, richy man, himself." The man spoke in a slight high pitched bit baritone voice before he slashed Wolverine's face and turned to show what he looked like on the front. "I was improving your museum. See? Doesn't Wolvie look great?" He asked excitedly before sliding the knife away. Then he turned his pure white eyes onto the new arrivals. 

"Who are you?" Pepper asked before being slightly pushed behind Tony. 

The man, whose face was completely hidden under red leather, swept into a bow. "The name is Deadpool, my fair lady." He then stood up straight, hands on his waist. "Of course, I am insulted you don't know me. Cause I am, like, totally awesome!" He let out a sigh, shaking his head. And here I thought Wolvie or at least S.H.E.I.L.D would have at least told you that much." He stated. 

There was an almost dead silence as the whole team looked blankly at him. They obviously didn't know who he was. But then Clint's eyes flashed in recognition before he nodded and clicked his fingers. "Wait a minute. I do know who you are. Wade Wilson, known as the Merc with a mouth. The Degenerative Regenerative." He looked at the others as they peered at him, still confused. "He is a mercenary with ripped off powers from mutants. He is also on S.H.E.I.L.D's most wanted list. He had a bad habit of killing some agents that went looking for him." He said now tense as ever. 

Everyone looked surprise at that before looking at Deadpool who shrugged, looking quite offended. "Hey! If you had some dead beats busting down your door, waving guns around, you'd shoot them right back! Besides, my powers weren't ripped off! I didn't ask to be experimented on by those Weapon X freaky doctor dudes." He cried out, waving his hands. It was obvious he was grinning now from under his mask. "Though my powers are pretty cool! They are definitely an improvement!" 

"Okay. So what kind of powers does he have?" Steve asked uneasily as he eyed the man in red and black leather. 

Clint shrugged as he tensed his entire body. "This kind." He said before his hand moved almost like lightning and he pulled a gun from under his suit jacket, aimed and fired. 

There was a loud crack in the air, making everyone jump and looked wildly at Clint as if he was crazy. He hardly ever carried a gun. They were not his style. They were more or less shocked that he would actually shoot this weird Deadpool guy right in the head, sending him flying lifelessly on the ground and now spilling blood all over the tiles.

"Jeez, Clint! What the hell?!" Tony exclaimed throwing his hands up in the air while Jane and Pepper had screamed, covering their mouths. 

Clint put down the gun, still looking at the still form of Deadpool. He merely glanced at Natasha when she walked over and snatched the gun away from him. "What?" He asked innocently. 

"What are you doing?!" Natasha demanded looking at him wildly. 

"Proving a point." Clint simply said shrugging. 

Everyone just gaped at him exasperated and stunned. They couldn't believe he actually shot the vandal. "What point?! Is it because he made you look like you were eating worms?!" Steve asked still not believing his team mate actually shot someone. 

"Well that's one. That is the other." Clint said pointing across the room back to Deadpool. 

Everyone looked over and froze again. It was due to the fact that the man was on his feet, glaring at Clint while poking his red gloved finger in the hole that was in the center of his forehead now. The blood was surprising gone now, and apparently so was the hole in his head. 

"Dude, that fucking hurts, you know?!" Deadpool snapped before his whole frame shifted and he snatched his gun at his side, making everyone tense up. "Yeah, if you wanted to prove a point, you should've just asked me to do it!" His voice seemed to have changed a little, going deeper before he pressed his gun against his forehead and pulled the trigger. 

Down he went again, smearing blood and brain matter across the floor. 

Everyone gaped. 

A moment later, Deadpool was up on his feet, spreading out his arms in a presenting way. "Ta-da! See! I'm okay!" He cheered before thrusting his fists up into the air, as if at a concert. "Deadpool lives again! And again! Though technically, I can't even die. People have tried, I have tried! It's all cool."

And Jane Foster fainted, falling but not hitting the ground because Thor caught her. 

Sliding the gun away, Deadpool now reached for his swords with both hands and slid them out. "Now, then. Since you want to play that way, little birdie, I am game. It is so  
annoying when someone shoots me in the head. And this is Corinthian leather, man. I think I should pay you back for ruining my mask." He stated obviously grinning as he swung his swords around in circles at his side before shifting into a stance. "I always wanted to fight The famous Avengers."

Everyone was tensing as they looked at Deadpool, readying their selves. They knew this was not going to be pretty. 

"Pepper, Bruce, you better get out of here with Jane. I think things are going to get really ugly." Tony said as he pushed up his sleeve to reveal his watch, which he pushed a button on the side. It emitted a beep and a red light was blinking. It served as a transmitter and a beacon for his infamous armor of scarlet and gold. 

Bruce nodded as he quickly swept Jane from Thor before he turned and booked it out of the room with Pepper, the Curator and the young man. He did not want to be a part of this. 

Natasha swept her dress aside to pull the gun from her leg holster, while Clint took off his jacket to reveal he had been wearing the two halves of his bow and five short, capped arrows. 

Steve also removed his jacket, tossing to the side before he tapped his own watch, which schnked and round plates of metal began unfolding until it revealed his red, white, blue and silver shield. 

Thor, on the other hand, just held out his hand, his glittering blue eyes serious and yet he wore a smirk on his face. He only grinned more when there came a crash and his legendary hammer was in hand. 

"Oh this is going to be fun." Deadpool said in amusement before he charged towards the Avengers, swords raised.

S.H.E.I.L.D Headquarters-

Nick Fury had gotten a call from his private quarters and that was one thing he was annoyed about. He was having some down time, reading a book and trying to relax. He deserved some relaxation now and then, didn't he? 

But nonetheless, as he was getting to an epic part of his book, he got a call from the main control room and his reading had been interrupted. He grudgingly made his way down the steel walled corridor, in irritation. 

As he walked, he was quickly joined by Agent Hill, who did look hurried to getting her boss to the main controls. 

"What in the hell is going on now, Hill?" The eye patched CO asked irritably. 

"Sir, we just a got from Pepper Potts. Seems like that Grand Opening of the new Avengers museum didn't turn out so grand." Hill said as she swiftly walked beside Fury. She received a side wards bland look before she cleared her throat. "The Avengers are engaged with an enemy, sir." 

"Who? Loki again? I thought Thor said he died." Fury asked frowning at her. 

Hill shook her head as she looked seriously at him. "No. Potts said he was claiming to be called Deadpool. I am not really......." she was saying. 

Fury suddenly stopped and looked directly at her, his mouth slightly agape in surprise. "Dead.......did you just say Deadpool?" He asked blankly. He received a nod. His one revealed eye widened before he turned and swiftly waked to the main control room. "Shit! This is at the new museum?!" He got another nod. "Hill! Call Pepper Potts and tell her to start evacuating any of the public close to the building! We do not want civilians to get caught up in this!" 

Hill hurried after Fury, now looking alarmed. She didn't like his reaction. "Why?! Who is he?! Why haven't I heard of him?!" She asked as she practically jogged after Fury's swift strides. 

Glancing seriously at her, Fury shook his head as he burst into the main control room. "He is a dangerous mercenary who likes things to go boom. And big time." He pointed at one of the S.H.E.I.L.D ITs. "Hey, call Tony Stark now! Bring up satellite visuals! I want to see what the hell is going on down there!" He ordered. 

"Sir, we might not have to! There are loads of reporters down there! It is all over the news and live!" An IT officer called as he worked quickly to pull up several screens of the live news. 

On the screens, it was chaos. There were screaming people racing past camera men who was getting the shots of The Avengers fighting a man in red, who was zipping around like a monkey on speed. 

"He is just one man." Hill said frowning as she watched the man dodging Thor's hammer pretty well before flipping around to avoid getting shot by Black Widow and Hawkeye. He seemed to be doing too well for one person, however. 

Fury shook his head as he placed his hands on his waist and watched. "Trust me, Hill. That ain't just a man. That is a man who has been turned into a mutant. With regenerative powers of Wolverine, to teleportation abilities he got from some mutant to even suppressed kinetic energy that can be like laser fire. This guy was a part of the Weapon X project. General William Striker made this man into a perfect weapon for his own uses. Problem was," he paused looking at her then back to the screens, which picked up audio of the guy laughing, of all things. "It messed him the fuck up. He's kind of insane. An insane assassin with regenerative abilities and a whole fucking pool of powers is a deadly mix. Hey! Got a connection with Stark yet?" 

"Almost, sir! Just one more......minute......there! We have his link!" The IT called.

'Bob's Boobs, we fix flats." Came Tony Stark's voice. 

Blankly looking the screen with Tony's face on it, Fury shook his head. "What in god's name happened, Stark?! How the hell did you get into a fight with one of S.H.E.I.L.D's number one prime targets?!" He demanded. 

"Eh, you know. He crashed our party and we tried to kick him out. So he didn't like that. Plus Barton shot him in the face." Tony answered. 

Fury rolled his one eye before he took a deep breath. "Okay, Stark. You need to kill Deadpool and neutralize him." He stated. 

"Um.......didn't you hear? Barton shot him in the head and he is still dancing around. Even he said he can't die." Tony said, now sounding winded after there was a dulled explosion close by. 

"Stark, Deadpool can die. You can kill him. It just is he won't stay dead. Smash his fucking head in and he will be neutralized for a little while until he regenerates." Fury said before pointing at the screen as if pointing at the man in an iron suit. "Do not let him get away, Stark." 

"Okay." Stark said dumbly, probably a little confused. "Why do you want him so badly" 

"We are going to.....acquire his services, that's why. Been trying to get a hold of that blabber mouth for years! We need him, Stark. Now get him." Fury said earning a few confused looks from everyone around him but he ignored them. 

New York-

Tony frowned inside of Ironman's helmet before he dodged grenades that were being thrown at him. He flew up high above the now demolished museum building to avoid cover fire. 

"Acquire his services? Fury, if I didn't know any better, and if you haven't noticed, he isn't exactly Avenger material. He is kind of nuts if you think about it." 

"Stark, we aren't going to make him an Avenger! He is too unpredictable and dangerous! Besides, even we did offer him a spot on the team, he would turn it down! He likes working alone! And I have noticed that he is unstable mentally. We just need him for a job that has come up! Problem is, the son of a bitch doesn't stop talking or he won't sit still long enough for us to explain to him about why we need him!" Fury snapped. 

Tony huffed before nodding as he dove down to where Deadpool was now engaged with Hawkeye in hand to hand and was kicking the shit out his team mate. He fired energy blasts from his hands, forcing him to back off. "All right. All right. I will see what we can do! I don't know how we are going........uh, never mind. Big green just joined us. We will let you know what happens in a few. Stark out." He then hung up. 

Sure enough, The Hulk had joined in the fight and was now charging at the much smaller man, who was shooting at him and making him angrier. 

When the fighting had broke out, The Avengers had tried to keep it contained inside the museum. They had tried to keep Deadpool inside the building but it seemed that the Merc with a Mouth decided to take it outside by pushing a button on a controller and blew a giant hole in the wall to make an exit. 

Everyone had to admit it, hitting Deadpool was hard. He was pretty fast and even if they hit him, he just kept coming. He seemed to heal faster when he was in motion. 

The fight taken outside, they did have more room for the fight and it did give Ironman room to fly around without destroying more things. 

Still, no one could deny the fact that Deadpool was good. He was moving quickly, had managed to knick Captain America with his blade, drawing blood and even tore Black Widow's dress to where she was pretty much showing her black bra off, which, again, earned some pretty crude comments from Deadpool. 

No doubt about it, he was more perverted than Tony. 

But the whole surrounding area was getting trashed. Cars that had been near the museum had been destroyed, stupid reporters were still filming the battle, and the fight was getting worse. 

"Hey, Hulk!" Ironman yelled as he flew over head, getting the not so jolly green giant mammoth's attention. "Do me a favor! Smash his head!" 

Hulk grunted before he turned his attention onto Deadpool who was shooting rapid fire at Hawkeye, then at Captain America as he attempted to get close. He roared before charging and swinging his giant fists. 

"Holy Chimichangas!" Deadpool swore as he moved to dodge the massive fists from smashing him into the ground. He aimed his guns and fired, which seemed more like bee stings to the green giant. And all it was doing was making him madder. 

"Okay, this was definitely not a good idea! Any ideas?!" Deadpool shouted as he kept moving. "How about we just run now?! I think we have played long enough!" He spoke again, though in a deep toned voice. "Eh........but I wanted to play a little longer!" He spoke now in a higher pitched voice as he kept dodging The Hulk's fists. 

And suddenly something heavy collided with his head, forcing him to collapse as Thor's hammer came down heavily on top of him. 

It was to others' relief when they saw the red and black merc collapse with a now big gaping hole in his head. It was definitely a gory bit of work. But nonetheless, Deadpool hit the ground like a limp piece of flesh and did not get back up. 

Sighing in relief, even as The Hulk slowed his charge and growled at the collapsed merc, Ironman landed, nodding to Thor, who decided to just place his hammer right on top of Deadpool's now still chest, pinning him down. "Hey, Fury. We got 'em. What now?" He made the call. 

"Keep him pinned. We are sending Agents now to help the clean up. If he regains consciousness, do not let him get up. Even if it means smashing is head again. Like I said, we need him for a job. And so far, he might just be the only one to get it done." Fury spoke to Ironman. 

"What kind of job needs a psychopathic, annoying mercenary?" Ironman asked frowning. 

"The kind that needs someone who can't really die. You will be debriefed later, once we have Deadpool in lock down. We were going to talk to you and the other Avengers about this later. Especially you and Banner. We need your intelligence on bioengineered sciences to get to the bottom of something that has come to our attention." Fury told him. 

"Okay." Ironman said before he glanced at the other Avengers as they all surrounded Deadpool, who was looking very dead. But even as they looked at him, they could see the slowly healing process of the merc's collapsed, crushed head. "Okay that is just gross." He added crinkling his nose in disgust as they watched the weird merc's healing.


	3. Chapter Two

S.H.E.I.L.D Headquarters-

Everyone was gathered in the main briefing room, all awaiting to hear the news that Nick Fury was going to give them. They were all cleaned up after their battle with insane egomaniac, whom was locked up in a detaining chamber and had guards watching him very closely. 

Tony had a cleanup crew at the museum site, cleaning up the mess and he wasn't exactly happy with the damage costs to the building. He had put a lot of money into that place and now it was all trashed. Kapooft! 

"All right, Fury, what the hell is going on?! Who is this Deadpool guy?! Why did he trash the museum and why the hell did you want him back alive?!" Tony asked irritably as he had pulled up all of the damage reports on the museum. 

Fury huffed as he stood before The Avengers, his hands on his waist. He glanced at Maria Hill, who nodded and pulled up a holo file of Deadpool, as well as a picture of quite a handsome man. The man, himself, was good looking in many ways, with short shaggy brown hair and a muscular toned body. He had a clean shaven face and dark brown eyes that glittered in cheer! Even though he wasn't smiling in the picture. 

"This, Avengers, is, or rather was Wade Wilson about.....maybe twenty, thirty, eh, hell let's just say forty for a good measure. This is what he looked like before General, who had been a major at the time, William Striker used him in the Weapon X, program. It was a program to create the perfect killing machine. A mutant with his own regenerative powers before it got upgraded with Wolverine's powers." Fury explained his hands folded behind his back. "We found this information in Striker's very own science diaries. He had kidnapped several mutants back in the sixties, maybe seventies and were stealing traces of their DNA and putting them into Wilson. Remember Scott Summers, boy scout of the X-Men? He was one of them." He told them. 

"Okay, that was what Wilson looked like? What does he look like now? Isn't he the same?" It was Natasha who asked, frowning. 

Fury shook his head and glanced at Hill, who hesitated, grimacing before she pressed the button on her holo computer. 

A new image popped up and everyone stared at the now twisted, altered image Wade Wilson. He was now completely bald with scars running all over his face. It looked like he had had his mouth sewn shut once but it was now wide open into an almost skeletal grin. He had diamond scars right over his eyes and down his cheeks. He was definitely not so good looking any more. 

"Okay. Now I see why he wears the mask. Why the hell would anyone want o see that face all day?" Tony asked raising his eyebrows and getting nudged hard in the side by Pepper. 

"So what happened? On the file it says he was deceased but, he is clearly alive and you have been looking for him. So what?" Steve asked frowning, leaning against the table. 

Again, Fury pointed at the file of Wade Wilson. "He was dead, at least by official records for maybe thirty years. It was only a couple of years ago, even while there was a mutant war going on when he popped back up on the radar. He has been quiet for that long and now he is back. Logan, aka Wolverine, of the X-Men had plainly that Wilson was dead because, he, himself cut off his head after helping taking down the Weapon X facility in Canada." He shook his head, his hands going back behind his back. "We haven't even corrected him. He still thinks Wilson is dead. But thanks to the whole shenanigans down at the new museum, I am pretty sure he knows that Wilson is alive again. We haven't gotten a call yet but I am sure we will." He stated.

"Okay, why do we want him here? Other than the obvious of him being dangerous and needing to be locked up?" Clint asked frowning. "Why were we looking for him?" 

Fury smiled strangely and it wasn't a pleasant smile. "Due to Wilson being unable to die, no matter if you crushed him, slashed his throat, shot him, blew him up, or even lit him on fire, we need him for a job." He said before looking at The Avengers. "You see, there is someone else that is on our crosshairs. And they have been for a good long while now. This someone is......unusual. And if I am right, this someone is a mutant whom the Hydra has been looking for because of what they possess. And what they possess goes back to the forties." He looked directly at Steve, who straightened slowly in growing alarm. "As you know, Cap, Hydra started with the time of the Nazis. And so for fifty, sixty years, remaining Nazis have been hunting down our new target. Or should I say, targets." 

"Okay. Enough with the riddles, Fury. Who the hell have we been looking for?" Natasha asked irritably. 

And for good measure, and to annoy his Avengers a little more, Fury threw out another one. "How do you feel about going to see a puppet show?" 

Everyone stared blankly at him, confused as hell. That was one thing they were not expecting him to say. 

Palms Casino-Las Vegas, Nevada

The Palms Casino theater was slowly filling up with people, moving to their seats for the show. There had been a good sized poster just outside with cursive writing that read Master of Puppets, Toulon above an eerie looking white skeletal face with a black hat dipped low over empty black eyes. Stringy white hair surrounded the obvious puppet's face as well as interesting designs all around the border. 

When The Avengers were asked to go to Las Vegas for this puppet show, there had been quite an argument about it. Everyone didn't want to go. They wanted to know what a puppet show had to do with what Fury had been telling them about. 

But the only thing he gave them was the puppets and their master was interesting and worth looking at. He wanted Tony and Bruce to see these things. To observe them. 

Tony had been quite reluctant about it. He apparently didn't like dolls or puppets. He made it clear that.....he might have been afraid of them. He did murmur something about a horror movie but no one paid too much mind to him. 

Fury eventually talked them into going, reassuring them it was just a show for them to go to. And he had already bought them tickets so they had to go. 

So, that night, they flew to Las Vegas and were now entering the Palms Casino theater where the show was taking place. It was just the six members of the team, seeing that it was kind of just Avenger business. They were dressed fashionably for the show, of course. Apparently there was a gala after the show and Fury insisted that they talked to the so called Puppeteer, who would be there. 

And furthermore, they were finding their selves seated in a VIP box just for them in an upper level where they had a pretty good view of what was going on. 

"I still don't see why the hell we are coming to see a lousy puppet show. This is for kids." Tony grumbled as he sat down in the cushy seat he was assigned to. 

"Dude, shut up. Like any one of us want to see this thing. But Fury wants us to check it out so let's get through it and then get the hell out of here." Clint grumbled right back as he sat down a few seats away from the billionaire. 

"Barton, have you seen Dead Silence?" Tony snapped back. "Puppets freak me out, all right?" 

Everyone rolled their eyes as the two bickered about the whole ordeal but when the lights died down, they slowed their argument as a few other routines came on. 

Steve, however, seemed bothered and Natasha, sitting next to him, noticed. She nudged his side and gave him an inquiring look. He just shook his head, rubbing his chiseled chin. "I know that name from somewhere. Toulon. I am just trying to remember from where." He answered her look as he narrowed his eyes and tried to think. "Puppets.......puppets......" And then slowly, his eyes lit up and he suddenly straightened. "Oh, my god. The Puppet Master." He whispered. 

Now everyone looked at him, frowning. They heard him say it and wondered exactly what the deal was. 

"What?" Bruce asked him, his hand lowering from where he had been resting his chin. 

Steve straightened even more looking at them. "Toulon! I remember where I heard that name! Andre Toulon! He was a German doctor, an entertainer! He and his wife, Eliza, I think, were quite famous in Germany for their puppet shows in the forties!" He explained to them. "I remember hearing about them from other soldiers! They used to put on puppet shows for the kids in a small village before the Nazis attacked it. From what I remember hearing about it, some Nazi Commander killed Toulon's wife and tried to kill him. But he escaped! Rumor had it that during the following week, the Nazi soldiers under that Commander's command began dying. Murdered in really bizarre ways." 

Glancing at each other, everyone listened but still looked wary. 

"Okay......so some German puppeteer sought revenge on Nazi assholes for killing his wife? So what?" Tony asked frowning with a shrug. 

Steve grimaced, raising his brow. "Stories had it that he used puppets to kill the Nazis. Puppets without strings. Puppets who moved all on their own. Puppets who were alive." He explained to them.

There was a dead silence before Tony was up off his chair, raising his hands in defeat. "I'm out. I am not doing this." He said exasperated. And he was followed by Clint. 

But Natasha was up o her feet, shoving both back into their chairs, hissing at them to sit back down in annoyance. 

"We are watching this show because Fury wants us to find out what is the deal with this Toulon guy!" Natasha snapped at both of them. She shot Steve a look, who was snickering now. "And you! Stop freaking them out! We don't know if that story is true! That was like, what?! Sixty years ago?! In the World War II! Who knows if this Toulon guy is dead! I am betting it just a coincidence! These are probably not even the same puppets! And if they are, they are just puppets!" 

"You are mean." Tony said blankly giving Steve a look, who just laughed. He joined Clint into just glaring at the old school soldier. 

"Ladies and gentlemen, we come to the climax of the show! Put your hands together for the Master of Entertainment! The lovely, sensational, most talented Puppeteer of Las Vegas, Eleanor Toulon!" An announcer spoke up throughout the entire theater which was soon drowned out by a round of cheers and applause. 

But nonetheless, The Avengers froze at the announcement. 

"Did he just say.......?" Tony was saying. 

The brilliant red curtains on the stage rolled back to reveal eerie red lighting and red smoke curling around the stage. Electric lights that spelled out Toulon was spread out above the stage, blinking amazingly. 

As if that wasn't enough, eerie but upbeat music boomed throughout the entire theater, cutting off Tony. It was haunting music, perfect for a puppet show like this. 

And in the middle of the stage, rising out of the smoke was a red garbed and hooded individual, who reached up and removed the hood to reveal a very pretty woman. She couldn't have been more older than her late twenties. She had curled and wavy dark hair pinned up with blood red sparkling ruby flowers and her face was a face to die for in a man's dream. She was almost flawless beauty with dark colored make up and luscious red lips. 

Removing the hooded cloak she had been wearing, the woman showed an hour glass shaped frame wearing a brilliant red outfit with gold bangles tied around her waist. She wore red leather pants and black mid thigh high heeled boots. Her top was a brilliant red and gold corset with see through straps showing her sun kissed skin of her arms and chest. She was a lovely girl and it was enough to make the men of the Avengers gape down at her. 

Eleanor Toulon was a beauty who also took a look of a steam punk gypsy girl. She even had a swirled gold and silver armlet around her right bicep, running down to her wrist. 

Whistling, Clint sank further in his seat and stared. "Wow." He murmured, earning a slap to the head by Natasha. He had not the only one to whistle or even cat call down at the girl. 

Many of the men in the audience had done the very same, earning a tight smile from on the smile but she raised her head high, spreading her arms wide in an "Ta-da!" sort of way. She turned her head, however, looking off to the side of the stage, where her pretty smile spread before she shifted and beckoned to something that was out of view. 

And finally, came a very small figure, peering around the curtains into the crowd. It surprised many to see the face of a one foot puppet, who was frowning deeply. It was a Jester like puppet, looking at the audience. 

The Avengers frowned as they saw the Jester just hiding behind the curtain, eyes narrowing a little in serious observation. It was only Steve whose eyes lit up in surprise and his mouth fell. He recognized that puppet. 

Elle Toulon whistled softly, making the puppet turn from the audience and look at her. She smiled almost softly waving at it, beckoning to it. She even bent down into a crouch, offering her hands. 

And sure enough, the puppet actually ran over to her, causing a lot of surprised murmurs as they watched it jump into her hands. They couldn't see any strings whatsoever as it ran to the Puppeteer. 

Standing up, the woman smiled to the crowd and motioned to the puppet she now had in her hand in an appealing way. She waved her hand above the puppet and even under to show there were no strings on it. She looked at it again, seeing that sad looking frown. She pouted in a humorous way, nudging the puppet with her finger to get it to look at her again. She motioned to her own mouth and spread a wide smile. 

A few in the crowd laughed, thinking it was funny that she was telling the puppet off for not smiling. 

But those laughs died when the Jester puppet's head began to spin in a haunting way. They stopped and murmured in surprise as they saw three parts to the puppet's face as they spun so rapidly that it was almost hard to see it's face any more. 

And when the three parts suddenly stopped, everyone was even more surprised to see a wide grin now on the puppet's face. It was a creepy looking smile that the puppet wore. 

"Whoa! How did it do that?!" Natasha asked now completely enthralled. 

Frowning in bewilderment, Tony dug into his jacket pocket and pulled out his phone. He aimed it at the stage and opened up the screen, which was showing the images up close and in a UV light way. He frowned more, bewildered to what he was seeing. 

Switching the screen to an almost x-ray app, he frowned even more when he could see into the puppet itself. "It's mechanical." He murmured to the others, making them look at him and then at the screen, eyes lighting up. "But there is something weird about the parts. It isn't being controlled." 

The Avengers frowned as they looked at the stage again, seeing Elle Toulon set the puppet on her shoulder, who seemed to just sit there, holding onto her. They both looked off the stage just as a rather large framed puppet came walking on the stage with a wooden chair in its abnormally large hands. It was big in body but very small in legs and head. It wore an ugly brown sweater and brown trousers. Its head was very small, too small for its large body. It walked straight up to the woman, who smiled and stepped back as the puppet set down the chair. 

Waving to the chair and the puppet, Elle moved over and sat down on the chair, earning surprised murmurs as she sat. She held onto the chair, lifting her legs off the ground straight forward before to everyone in the audience's shock, the too big, too small puppet gripped the back legs of the chair and began to lift. 

There was a gasp in the crowd as the puppet simply lifted the chair and woman a foot off the ground, above its head before carefully setting them back down again, earning wild applause. 

Elle Toulon stood up again, taking the large hand of her second puppet and making a curtsied with the puppet bowing to the calls. She stepped back again, motioning to the side of the stage. The too large, too small puppet nodded and strode right off the stage before coming back just a moment later, carrying a very large ply board. It must have been two three inches thick. 

Moving over, Elle Toulon took one side of the wide board with the puppet and showed it to the audience. She even bent forward and knocked hard on it to show that it was quite real wood and very hard. 

Smiling grandly, she and her two puppets looked off the stage just as a third one came on. 

This one was an odd looking one, standing a little more than a foot tall. It wore what looked like a Chinese Soldier's outfit. It had black squinty like eyes which it turned onto the crowd as it walked over to the other three on the stage. What made it the most odd looking was the shimmering, sharp drill bit that made the top of its head. 

Quite a few people were murmuring and were watching ever so close as the puppet looked up at the woman, who motioned to the board. It nodded once before bending right over at the waist just as its drill head began to spin and scream very much like a drill would. It rushed the board and began drilling a large hole right into it, earning gasps and murmurs from the crowd. 

Once a complete circular hold was drilled into the board, the puppet stepped back as if to admire its work. 

And that was when a pale white slender arm began to slither right through the hole. There came a small but slender frame of a one foot female puppet sliding right through the hole. It was hauntingly beautiful puppet of a woman wearing a gorgeous lavender dress. It had long sleek black hair spilling down its back. 

Elle Toulon smiled as she released the board to her too large, too small puppet, who carried it right off the stage. She just picked up the female puppet and petted her hair before placing her on her shoulder right with the Jester Puppet, who did not stop grinning. 

Next, looking off the stage to where the too large, too small puppet had gone, it was coming back, though now bringing what looked like a very large wheel. And it wasn't alone.

On the other end of the wheel, helping pushing the wheel was another puppet garbed in a beige Nazi brown trench coat. It had a very disturbing look about it as it looked at the audience. It honestly looked like Darth Vader from Star Wars. The only difference, he did have a mouth and teeth. But the teeth, their selves were made up of round tipped bullets. While it did have a hand, it also had what looked like a nozzle for a hand. 

It did not show what it was used for until at the end of the performance. 

Moving over to the wheel, Elle Toulon helped move it to face the audience before motioning to leather straps that was at the top of the wheel then to the leather straps at the bottom, where there were what looked like foot braces. She reached up and removed both the Jester and the lovely lady puppet from her shoulder, setting them on a thick board above the wheel before she stepped up on the foot braces and raised both hands to the leather straps. 

And surprised murmurs raised again in the audience as the two puppets on top of the wheel actually began strapping her wrists, trapping them against the wheel. 

Below, the too large, too small puppet began strapping her ankles with the bottom straps. 

After she was trapped, the young woman tugged at the straps to prove that she was completely secured and trapped before looking over to the side of the stage while another new puppet came walking on. And this one had many raise their murmurs as it walked towards the wheel, stopping at least five feet away from it and its master. 

This new puppet represented a cowboy. It was like the other puppets, only a foot tall, if not just a little taller by a few inches. It was due to the fact that it did have a long body and legs, having six arms on its body. And at its waist was six holsters with what looked like guns. 

The puppet, itself had a wide wicked looking grin as it looked at the crowd, using one gloved hand to tip its hat to everyone. Then it turned its attention onto the too large, too small puppet as it pulled an apple out from behind the wheel and held it up for the audience to see. 

With almost lightning speed, the cowboy yanked out one of its guns and fired. It was a loud pop, making many in the audience cry out in surprise as the apple exploded from the large, small puppet's hand, sending juice and bits splattering the stage ground. 

Then the cowboy was putting its gun away again and standing like it was about to have a show down. 

The too large, too small puppet turned to the wheel and began spinning it, master and all. It continued to spin it until it was at a good speed.

"Please tell me that it is not going to......." Bruce said tensing up as he slowly started rising to his feet. 

But nonetheless, the cowboy whipped all six of its guns out and began firing, loud pops followed after. There were startled cries as the little gun man fired its guns until it seemed to be out. The small bullets hit the wheel and began making a perfect circle in the wheel, which finally slowed to a halt. 

And the girl seemed to be fine, uninjured in anyway. She was smiling her pretty smile as she just waited to be unstrapped. 

Suddenly, something dropped down from above, making several of the audience cry out in alarm. Especially when the new puppet caught itself on the wheel with an obvious sharp hook. It was dangling right by the young woman by the hook where it used its other to slash the leather straps with a very sharp looking knife that served its other hand. 

Freed, Elle Toulon tugged her wrists free before un strapping her feet and stepping down from the wheel. She reached up and took the new puppet off the wheel, holding it up to show the audience. 

It was an eerie looking puppet with a pure white skeletal face, wearing a black trench coat and hat dipped low on top of its stringy white hair. It had an eerie smile on its face with black empty eye sockets peering at everyone in the audience. It was the puppet from the poster. 

With the puppet on her hand, Elle Toulon spread out her hands while all of her puppets lined up alongside her. The Jester had crawled back onto her shoulder while the beautiful doll simply sat on the wheel, legs crossed and hands seemingly folded on her lap. 

As one, as the music finally died with a loud gong of cymbals, the master and her puppets bowed their heads to the audience, which earned a loud round of applause and cheers from the audience. And the curtains started closing.

"She's a fucking mutant!" Someone suddenly shouted, halting anything and everything. 

Heads whipped up, people turned to look where the voice had come from. It was a young man, probably in his early twenties, dressed like a punk. He was looking at the woman and her puppets in disgust with his friends. He even stood up to let everyone know he had been the one to say it.

But nonetheless, people were murmuring in surprise as they looked at the man then to the Puppeteer. 

"Excuse me?" Elle Toulon called out, her face turning to stone while her puppets were now hissing and looking at one another, as if conversing with each other. 

The man pointed at her, looking hateful and cruel. "You are a fucking mutant, aren't you?! You're controlling those stupid dolls with your mind! Aren't you?! Mutant bitch!" He snarled. 

In the VIP box, The Avengers all groaned or shook their heads, not believing the nerve of this guy. Tony stood up, watching the confrontation before straightening his tie. He glanced at his fellows who were eyeing him with raised brows. "I think that is my queue." He said turning around and heading towards the door. 

"Where is he......?" Bruce was asking frowning. 

"To shut an ass hole up." Natasha interrupted as she looked back at the audience, at the jerk who was accusing the young woman of being a mutant. 

"I.....I am not!" Elle Toulon said loudly, obviously putting up her guard. Her puppets were now hissing unpleasantly as they moved closer to her feet, as if protecting her. "I am just an Entertainer! I am not a mutant! And do not call my puppets stupid! They are not stupid!" 

"Fuck that! You are a fucking mutant! That is how your stupid dolls! And they are stupid dolls?! What am I hurting your dumb dolls' feelings?! Well how's this one for.........!" The jerk was shouting while his friends laughed. 

But the next person to come walking off made him stop talking before the crowd erupted into cheers and applause. Especially when they saw that it was Tony Stark, himself. No one had known he was there but now that they did, they cheered long and loud until he waved and smiled at them before reaching Elle Toulon. He did keep his distance from her when she did look like she had her guard up and the puppets moved closer to her, almost between him and her. 

"Hi." Tony said as he reached out his hand towards her as if to shake it. He didn't move it away when she drew back a little but waited till she finally did shake his hand though hesitantly. He released her, turning towards the audience, ignoring the puppets as they hissed a little at him for standing so close to her and them. "Ladies and gentlemen, I don't know about you but I enjoyed this show. And I happen to be scared to death of puppets and dolls." He said sparing a glance at the puppets. But nonetheless the audience laughed and smiled at his admittance. He then motioned to the puppeteer next to him. "As far as I can see, even if she is a mutant, so what?" He asked sarcastically, pointing that look at the jerk and his friends. "She and her puppets just put on a pretty good show, entertained all of us, allowed a little cowboy to shoot at her." He glanced at the six armed cowboy who made a creepy chuckle as it looked at him. "That is why I came up here. To extend an invitation to Miss Toulon to join me and The Avengers," he motioned to the VIP box where the others were, who waved when everyone looked and earned cheers from the audience. "At our table at the so called gala after the show. And your puppets are more than welcome to join us." 

Slowly smiling, looking relieved yet bewildered, Elle Toulon slowly nodded as she looked back at Tony. She spared a glance at all of her puppets. "Uh.....o-okay. Thank you." She said in two different ways and meanings. 

Tony looked back at the audience before pointing at the jerk and his friends. "And what is your name?" He suddenly asked. 

The man hesitated but shrugged, still looking hateful but now embarrassed. "Karl Olsen." He answered, now looking a little excited. He honestly thought the invitation to hang out with the Avengers was about to be extended to him. 

Slowly Tony nodded. "Well, Kenneth, I already forgot your name. And I am pretty sure that everyone else will too. But they will obviously remember mine and they will remember Miss Eleanor Toulon's for a long time because she hung out with The Avengers." He said and the audience laughed again. He looked back at Elle Toulon and her puppets. "What are your puppets' names, by the way?" 

Smiling now with a slight smugness but there was an obvious caring look as she looked at her puppets. She motioned to the Jester on her shoulder. "This is Jester." She then motioned to the skeleton in black in her other arm. "Blade." She motioned to the pretty female Puppet. "Leech Woman." She told him. 

"Leech Woman? Wow. Interesting name. Do I dare to ask how she got that name?" Tony asked chuckling. 

Sharing a glance with her female Puppet, Elle shook her head. "Probably not." She told him, earning some laughs from the audience. She motioned to the puppets at her feet, starting with the six armed cowboy. "Six-shooter. Next to him is Torch." She motioned to the Darth Vader looking puppet. 

"Okay, I am curious about that one. Why Torch?" Tony asked pointing at the puppet. 

Smiling, Elle looked at the puppet that looked back. "Little flame, Torch. Show him why your name is Torch." She said in amusement. 

The puppet growled half heartedly before turning slightly away from Tony, pointing his arm towards the audience. And there was a hiss before a small ball of flames spat out from the nozzle making the audience gasp in surprise before cheering. 

Tony raised his eyebrows but looked impressed. "Nice. Now that is cool. A puppet flame thrower." He said and the audience laughed again. 

"Next to Torch is Pinhead." Elle said before she carefully knelt down to her knee and placed a hand on the too large, too small puppet's back. "Don't let his size fool you. He is stronger than he looks." She added fondly and the puppet actually leaned into her touch, placing one of his massive hands over hers. She then reached over and placed her hand on the last puppet's back, the one with a drill head. "And this is Tunneler." She said finally.

"Well, other than being freaky puppets, they seem cool." Tony said before looking at the audience again and folding his hands together. "Well, then. Let's hear a round of applause for Eleanor Toulon and her puppets, everyone!"

The audience went wild and applauded. People even stood up to cheer the names. 

Tony leaned towards Elle Toulon giving her a pointed look. "The invitation is legit, Miss Toulon. The Avengers and I would like to talk to you." He said quietly over the loud noise. 

Looking quite uneasy, Elle Toulon nodded slowly as she shared a look with Blade, of all puppets. "O-okay. I guess since you did save us from an angry mob, I guess we can talk. I do got to ask, we are not in trouble, are we?" She asked uneasily. 

Tony shook his head, smiling tightly. "No. We just want to talk to you. That's all. And whatever we do say, it won't be against you. And if you decide to just walk on out, we won't hold that against you either. Nor will we come after you. Deal?" He asked her, offering his hand in sealing a deal.

Slowly, Elle Toulon nodded with her puppets. "Okay." She told him, shaking his offered hand.


	4. Chapter Three

The gala was being held in a large ball room of the casino. There was music, laughter, a little gambling, dancing and of course food. It was exciting and it just got more exciting when The Avengers walked in with their guests. It became too much that Tony asked the Casino owner for a private room for all of them so they could talk without people rushing up to him and The Avengers wanting pictures and autographs. 

So all of them and the little puppets were now in a quieter room, seated at a table where there was food and drinks served to them. 

Elle Toulon and her puppets were on one end of the table while the Avengers were at the other. They all seemed to be a little on edge, watching The Avengers' every move. They were not sure what to make of this little meeting. 

And it was Steve who asked it first. "Are you a relative of Andre Toulon? The Puppet Master of Germany?" He blurted out. 

Elle who had been taking a drink of a Coke and Jack spluttered in her drink before looking like a deer caught in lights. Her puppets chattered as they looked at her then at each other as if conversing with each other. It was only the one called Blade who remained quiet, seemingly to be concentrating on what was happening all around them. And The Avengers all realized it. He was watching and probably thinking very carefully. That is, if he was actually what they thought he was. 

Elle coughed once before looking wide eyed at Blade, who turned back to her before shifting his hook towards the other group. She slowly nodded before looking painfully careful at Steve. "Um........ye-yes?" She said unsure. 

A wide grin spread on Steve's face and he actually looked excited. "Awesome! I remembered hearing about The Puppet Master! I always wanted to go to one of his shows but I never got the chance." He said. 

"Like a kid at Christmas." Clint laughed, nudging Bruce who was smiling and shaking his head. 

A slow smile formed on Elle's face as she looked at Leech Woman, who had not stopped staring at the infamous Steve Rogers since they entered that room and made the introductions. "Oh....that's right. Captain America." She said in dawning. "A Super Soldier from the Americas. From what I knew, my Great, Great Grandfather was a fan of yours too. So was my grandmother." She said still looking at the female puppet before tearing her eyes away and looking back at The Avenger. She was on her guard, uncertain. 

"Okay, we are just going to get to the point." Tony sad as he sipped his wine then set it down again. "You have an idea why we wanted to talk to you, don't you?" 

Elle hesitated as she spared her puppets a glance again before she slowly nodded. "You want to know if the stories about Andre Toulon were true." She finally said. 

"Got it. So are they? Are these his puppets? Puppets that are actually aren't puppets but are alive?" Tony asked looking at the puppets, who were all hissing and looking at one another. It did not take a fool that they WERE talking to one another and probably trying to come up with some kind of plan to get out of this. 

There was a long moment of silence as Elle looked directly at Blade, who was looking right into her eyes with his black empty eye sockets. She waited until the puppet nodded and motioned towards Tony before looking back at the billionaire. "Why do you want to know? If they are, you are not going to take them from me." She said stonily, her entire body tensed as if she was readying herself for a fight. 

"We won't take them from you, Miss Toulon. We just want to understand how they are the way they are." Bruce spoke up, shooting a look to each and every one of his fellow Avengers. He slowly stood up, trying to keep a calm aura around him. 

Slowly, he made his way around the table, pausing when the puppets hissed warningly at him. The too large, too small one, Pinhead seemed to puff up his entire body, standing in between him and his master. It didn't take a fool to realize the puppet was sizing Bruce up.

"I am a scientist and my interest is peaked." Bruce tried calmly watching Pinhead very carefully. 

Elle, still stone faced, slowly stood up, her fists clenched as she stood very close to the table with her puppets. "That is exactly what they are afraid of, Mister Banner. They do not like scientists. And since you know the story about my Grandfather, you know exactly why they don't." She said, her voice hard. 

"Okay, you know what? Cool it, kiddo." Toby said leaning back in his chair. "We don't want the mumbo jumbo that is said to have brought these things to life. We just want to know if they are dead people brought back to life in puppets." 

Elle, not reassured, looked at him with wariness before she slowly nodding. "They are. Each and every one of them was Andre Toulon's puppets. His friends in his life. People that Hydra killed and hunted them down for the formula that was used." She said darkly, her hand now gripping at the table. She turned and picked up Jester, holding him close to her, while stepping back. She looked scared and everyone understood why. "What do you want? The formula can't be used by you. It's more than just science. It isn't just the formula that brought them back." 

"Miss Toulon," Bruce said calmly, as he leaned against the table. "We just want to understand. You know what we do. Who we fight against. If Hydra is after you and your puppets because of this.....formula, we can protect you and them. We fight Hydra. We just want to understand what this is. Nothing more. I swear. We won't try to steal the puppets. We won't use the formula to create our own armies of darkness. If we wanted to take over the world, don't you think we could do that all on our own? We are science experiments gone wrong, super spies, a God, a super soldier and a billionaire playboy genius. I think we could do it all on our own without some science juice to raise dead soldiers. Don't you think?" He asked calmly. 

There was a pause before all of the tension eased out of Elle and she slowly set Jester back own on his feet, on the table. She slowly breathed out before looking at Blade, who tipped his hat back to look up at her. She stared directly back into his empty eyes, looking as if she was actually talking to him. 

Sparing a glance at the other Puppets, it seemed the same and slowly, one by one, the puppets nodded. Her longest stare had been with Leech Woman, however, who slowly nodded and moaned softly, motioning to The Avengers. 

Elle sighed softly before she looked back at the group of Avengers. "Okay. They agreed. What do you want to know?" She asked softly. 

"Were you actually talking to them?" Natasha asked raising her red pencil thin eyebrow. 

Slowly, Elle nodded as she looked tired all of a sudden. "Yeah. I......I am a mutant. I inherited my powers from Andre Toulon. He was......before the puppets, he was just a scientist. A doctor. He learned that his mutant powers allowed him to.....well.....speak to the dead. A sixth sense I guess. He learned about the formula from an Egyptian shaman, a wizard, I guess, ho as able to bring puppets and dolls to life by using spirits of the dead. The Egyptian, my grandfather and I were and are......well, Necromancers, I guess you can say. I speak to spirits and can even bring back the dead to life. I can summon spirits back by using life energy from myself. The more spirits tied to me, the stronger I can be." She motioned to the puppets. "They were tied to my grandfather. When he died, their tie snapped. They did start to wither away until my family found them again. They are tied to my very own spirit. So that is why they are alive and moving on their own." She explained. 

"So.....the formula.......the one Andre Toulon used....!" Steve was saying frowning. 

"He used it to bring their spirits back but he didn't keep using it. I don't even use it at all. I don't have to. They feed off of my own life energy." Elle said slowly. "They feed it right back to me so I won't wear out. We are.....bonded, I guess you can say. I have been since I was just a little girl." 

"How did you find these guys?" Steve asked again. "From what I understood, they would show up now and then and then vanish completely. They were supposed to be lost after Andre Toulon's death." 

Elle slowly smiled as she looked at her puppets. "I inherited them from my grandfather, Robert. He was the last Puppet Master for them. He never actually used them for anything. He just kept them safe from the Nazis who were hunting them. When he died, he sent my father, Franklin Toulon a letter, telling him that he was to inherit them. But they were given to me instead. Because of Hydra." She explained. 

"Okay. And where is your dad? Why isn't he here?" Clint asked, his arms folded. 

Elle went very quiet before she looked at all of the puppets, who lowered their heads, hissing and growling. She spared a glance at Jester, whose three part head was spinning until there was a sad frown on his face. "He......Hydra got a hold of him. We were, have always been on the run. Running from place to place, trying to stay away from the Nazis. We have traveled the world trying to hide from them. But they eventually caught up to us. He made us run away while he stayed to hold them back." She said somberly. 

There was a long silence as the group of Avengers glanced at each other gravely. 

"I am sorry for your loss." Tony said gravely before he sucked in a deep breath. "So......what now? What is your plan? You going to keep playing entertainer here in Las Vegas?" 

Elle shook her head as she plucked a fuzz ball from Torch's beige jacket, getting a look from him. "No. This was just for a little while. We keep moving. We don't stay in one place. Staying in one place just gives the Nazis time to catch up to us. And I can't let them close to my family." She said motioning to all of the puppets. "If they come too close, these guys resort to all sorts of violence when it comes to protecting me. They are very protective and if someone threatens me, they won't take it well." She said hesitantly. 

"So they have killed people?" Clint asked, seriously. 

Elle grimaced as she looked at him but nodded slowly. "Mostly just Nazis who tried hurting their masters. Anyone who came after them or tried to hurt them or me. They do have blood on their hands but I assure you, it was in self defense." She said as she wrapped her arms around Jester again and held him close, which he seemed to return the embrace while looking at The Avengers. 

Frowning, Tony motioned to the jester with his finger. "What is the deal with you and him? You keep hugging him as if he is a security blanket." He stated. 

Sharing a look with Jester, Elle smiled. "He is my security blanket. He was the first one I met. I am very close to all of my puppets but Jester and I are the closest. He is always with me. And as it is, out of all of them," she motioned to all of the puppets. "Jester is the least violent one. He isn't a saint, don't get that wrong. He has killed before. But he is......like a Guardian teddy bear, I guess you can put it as. Anyone who comes after me, he will hurt. He does have a pretty mean throw when he has a knife in his hand." She stated before motioning to Blade. "When I am not in charge, Blade is. He used to be a Nazi scientist who befriended my grandfather. He was killed protecting him and out of respect and revenge, my grandfather brought him back as Blade. He is the leader of the Puppets." She then ruffled the small sharp handed puppet's hat, who batted her hand away with his arm, being careful so not to cut her with his knife. She just laughed before fixing his hat that had been a skewed on his head. 

It couldn't be helped that everyone in the room smiled, somewhat touched by the warm scene of the girl and her puppts. it was almost like they were teasing each other. Especially when Six-Shooter decided to give Torch a light shove and got one back from the menacing puppet. 

"Okay, okay. Cut it out, guys." Elle laughed as she put her hand between the two, separating them. 

"What? What was that about?" Natasha asked smiling in amusement. 

Elle smiling, shook her head as she looked back at her. "Six-shooter is harassing Torch, as always. He was joking about something. When one gets playful like Blade just did, it kind of gets contagious. They all get playful." She said laughing softly. 

"You really care about them, don't you?" Brice asked seeing the love in her eyes for her puppets. 

Sparing him a glance as she bent down over all of the puppets, who all crowded around her and hugged her while she wrapped her arms around all of them, holding them close. "I grew up with them protecting me every second of the day. Of course I care about them. They love me and I love them. They are my family." She told him before releasing the puppets and setting Jester down on the table with the others. She looked serious again. "Okay. I am a little confused though. Why did you come after me? How did you even know I would be here? And what do you want with us?" 

The Avengers shared a look with each, not exactly knowing what to say that would put some ease into her. They knew that SHIELD was after her and her puppets. It was probably why Fury wanted them to come to Las Vegas first before hiring Deadpool to do it. He wanted them to confront her first so not to scare her or put the puppets on defensive. 

"We.......uh....well it was S.H.E.I.L.D who sent us here. You are on........" Steve started. 

Elle suddenly stiffened, her eyes widening and her puppets burst into hissing and growling as they tensed up. Six-shooter even reacted enough to whip out his six guns and Torch raised his flame throwing arm. Even Blade had raised his hook and knife as if in defense. Jester's face spun rapidly until it stopped looking scared. 

"What?! SHEILD?! ARE YOU FUCKING ME?!" Elle suddenly burst up, backing away from them. "You are with SHEILD?!" 

Everyone tensed up in the room, all standing up now that there were weapons trained on them. They hadn't been expecting that reaction. 

"Yeah, why?" Tony asked frowning. 

Elle backed up until her back was against the wall. She looked like a frightened animal that was now cornered by hunters. Her puppets were growling now, almost glaring at them as they jumped down from the table and surrounded her in protection. "SHEILD is just like Hydra! They have been hunting us for years! They are the reason my father is dead! And you! All of you a part of them!" She said trembling, her arms wrapping around herself. 

"Okay, hold on! What do you mean hunting you?! They are not going to hurt you! They want to help you!" Clint said as he raised his hands. 

Shakily, Elle shook her head, her eyes still wide. "They want the formula! They killed my grandfather, Robert, you idiot! Because he wouldn't give them the puppets! You have come to take them, haven't you?!" She demanded in anger and fear. 

"No, you got it all wrong. SHEILD is the good guys! Hydra is......!" Steve was trying to reassure her. 

"No! There is no difference! They want to tear these guys a part just like they did to Decapitron!" Elle shouted angrily. 

"Who?" Bruce asked now standing back behind Thor. 

"He was my great great great Grandfather turned into a puppet! He was Andre Toulon! They took him from me and tore him a part! Blade and Jester saw it happen! They went to save him and they saw SHIELD rip Decapitron a part to get the formula! And you idiots lead SHIELD right to me!" Elle shouted, her puppets starting to growl louder. 

"Okay, wait a minute! We didn't........." Natasha spoke up, her hands raised when Six-shooter aimed one gun at her. 

Suddenly the door to the room opened and four men in black suits came in, looking tense. They took one look at the situation before heading straight towards Elle Toulon. "Mister Stark, sir, Avengers, we will take it from here." The leading man said as he just stood right where he was. 

Tony looking bewildered shook his head. "What? Who are you......?!" He demanded. 

"SHIELD agents, sir. We came to help collect Eleanor Toulon and her puppets. The SHIELD Command would like to thank you for bringing us to her. The rest is confidential. We need to take Miss Toulon in with her weapons back to base for containment." The Agent said. 

"Do not touch me!" Elle shouted now back peddling away from the SHIELD agents that were approaching her and the puppets. 

"Hey! Don't.......!" Steve snapped now starting forward to go to her defense. 

Suddenly, fire exploded from Torch's arm, aimed right at the agents. There was several startled shouts as everyone in the room leapt backwards to avoid getting burned or lit on fire. There wasn't much more time before loud pops followed after the fire flew. Six-shooter began shooting at the Agents' feet, sending them scampering back. 

Immediately, Elle was scooping up her puppets into her arms with both Six-shooter and Torch covering her. She bent down so that the six armed cowboy could slid some of his guns away and then grabbed a hold of her back shirt while Torch stopped with the flames and he was scooped up next. 

With an arm full of puppets, the girl was out the door. 

Yelling, the agents started going after her, but it was Steve who leapt ahead and blocked the door, shoving them back, looking quite angry. He was not alone. Every one of the Avengers looked angry. Bruce was against the wall, sucking in deep breaths, trying to calm himself down. He was starting to look a little green in the skin, his eyes almost glowing green now as he glared at the agent. 

"Hey, she is going to get away.......!" One of the Agents tried to say as he attempted to get by Steve, only to be shoved back again and then grabbed by Clint and slammed into a wall. 

"That is the idea!" The archer snapped angrily before looking over at Natasha as she went to Bruce and tried to help him calm down. She was making him take Lamaze like breathing to help him. 

"She is a target! She.......!" Another Agent was saying. 

"No, she is not! And you are going to let her go while we head back to Avengers Tower and find out what the hell is going on!" Tony snapped, his eyes slightly bulged in anger as he glared at the Agents. "What you just did was scare her and it became a chain reaction........!" 

Suddenly there was gun shots and screams from outside the room, making everyone in the room jump and spin around. They heard loud bangs and crashes before everyone decided to run out into the ball room. 

The first thing they saw was people running and screaming in the ball room. The second thing they saw was the people were running and screaming because of a group of armed men coming in being lead by four people. 

Three men and one woman. 

All of them wore badges of Hydra. 

The woman was quite a looker with a body to die for. She had long green hair spilling down her back to her waist. She wore green leather pants that cut really low to her pelvis. Her top was half long sleeve, half tank top with a silver gauntlet one hand and a fingerless green glove on the other. She also wore black flat heeled boots that ran up to her knees hugging her legs. She also wore a green mask on her lower face while her eyes were hidden behind black sunglasses. 

The man beside her was a tall, chiseled sort of man. He was well built in frame and wore a red and yellow muscle shirt and obviously dyed red khakis with multiple pockets. He had golden blond hair cut cropped and was wearing a mask but just over his eyes, like a bandit. He honestly thought that was going to hide his identity well but it wasn't working so well in his favor. 

The one next to him was a shorter man, wearing all dark colors. He wore black baggy pants and a dark hoodie with the hood pulled over his head. He did have guns hanging low on his waist as well as what looked like a whip. His face was unmasked but there was black inky paint running from his eyes and down his cheeks. It honestly looked like he had rubbed his eyes with ink stained hands before rubbing his face. 

The last man was a very tall Asian. He had long black hair, though the back of it stuck up in spikes, as if he had been electrocuted in some way. He wore red Chinese warrior robes with wide sleeves and there was a katana strapped to his back. What made it very odd in deed were the very dark goggles he wore over his eyes. He honestly looked like a Yukaza gangster. 

All of them had their attention towards an upturned table, where all of The Avengers saw Elle Toulon cowering behind with her puppets crowded around her. They seemed to be shielding her from the obvious danger. 

And the four Hydra Agents were heading in her direction with the group of Hydra soldiers. 

"Shit!" Natasha swore before she reached under her dress she wore and pulled out her guns she had hidden on her thighs. "Why is it we can't go anywhere without there being a fight?!" 

"Don't know! But we got to stop them!" Steve answered back as he rushed forward, grabbing a table and throwing it as hard as he could in the direction of the four Hydra Agents. 

The Hydra Agents saw the sudden movement and whipped their heads around just in time to see the table coming at them. They quickly scattered as the table crashed into the wall near them. But nonetheless, it had their attention.

"Hey there! Instead of trying to hurt innocent people, why don't you come mess with us." Tony said as he removed his jacket, had already pushed the button on his watch to summon his Ironman suit, which he always carried with him in a suit case form now. 

Thor had his hand out, summoning his own, which smashed through the wall and into his hand. 

Clint already had his bow and arrows up and ready, since he did always carry them under his jacket. He had an arrow already knocked and aimed at the four Hydra Agents. 

Beside him, Natasha had her guns trained on the agents, looking deadly as ever. She had the hammers back and ready to shoot at any threat. 

Steve had pushed the button on his watch and his American shield was spinning outward until it was complete. He raised it, glaring at the agents and ready to do battle. 

As for Bruce, well, he was turning green and starting to shred his clothes as he began his transformation into The Hulk.

The four Hydra Agents looked at one another before it was the hooded one that pointed at them. "Kill them! I'll get the girl!" He snapped before turning back towards Elle's hiding place. 

Immediately everyone moved at once. The Hydra soldiers were now aiming their guns and began firing while the other three charged towards The Avengers. The blonde masked one raised both hands, which emitted neon pink and fiery red balls of light. 

"Oh, damn." Clint said stiffly with the others before he moved to dodge as the man flung the balls of energy at them. He moved just in time with everyone else as the energy balls slammed into the wall behind them and exploded, sending cheap plaster and stone flying in many directions. 

The Avengers looked uneasily at the now huge hole in the wall before looking at the mutant who threw it. 

"Okay, don't let those hit you." Tony said just as his armor pieces came flying into the room and began forming into the suit for the billionaire to step into. 

And the battle resumed as everyone began charging back to fight. 

"There you are." 

Elle Toulon gasped and jolted back with the puppets to see the hooded Hydra Agent came around the table with a gun in his hand. She looked fearfully up at him as she scampered back. "Who......?! What do you want?! Just leave us alone!" She shouted as she clutched Jester close to her with her puppets around her. 

The hooded man just grinned cruelly down at her as he stepped closer to her. "Like Stark said, you already forgot me. Well I am here to remind you." He said as he aimed the.gun at her. 

Elle's eyes flashed as she immediately thought of the man in the theater. "You.........Karl?" She said in shock. 

The man grinned, nodding. "The name is Karl Kraus, actually. Hydra Agent. And I am bringing you and your freaks back to Hydra. Of course it would be a personal favor to me. Especially what your freak of a Grandfather did to mine." He said before nodding to the puppets. "They should know, shouldn't they?" 

"Wh-what?" Elle asked in shock before looking at Blade as he hissed and raised both hook and knife. She narrowed her eyes in confusion before they flashed open wide again and she looked up at the man, Karl Kraus. "You! Your grandfather! He was.......!" She was saying. 

"Gestapo Major Sturmbannfuhrer Kraus. The man who killed your fucking Jewish loving grandmother." Kraus sneered before looking at Blade. "It is like looking at him. Funny how that one looks like Major Kraus. Your bastard of a Grandfather had one sick sense of humor." He sneered back at Elle, who was starting to glare hatefully at him. "Course, it was fun watching the SHIELD Agents tearing HIM a part. Decapitron, right?" 

Suddenly fire was flying and Kraus yelped as he lunged backwards away from Torch as he sent fire flying. He, however, had his sleeve catch fire and he swore as he began batting at the flames to put them out. 

There was a flash of black and Blade was at the man's feet, slashing at his legs with his knife. 

"Argh! Fucking hell!" Kraus exclaimed as he danced to get away from the blade and hook handed puppet. He lashed out his foot and kicked the one foot puppet away from him. He watched with a glare as the puppet slammed into the wall at a weird angle before smirking when it didn't move again.

Elle screamed and scampered over to where Blade had landed, picking his almost broken body up. He had a broken arm, no doubt by how it was limp and hanging useless. Her other puppets had crowded around her, looking at their comrade before whirling back around. She turned her head, hugging Blade close to her to glare at Kraus as he aimed his gun directly at her head. 

"If you don't want her brains splattered against the wall, I suggest you don't attack me again." Kraus said dangerously as he readied to pull the trigger at any sign of an attack. 

The puppets growled or hissed but didn't move to attack him. They obviously knew that if they made any move to, their Master would be dead in a second. 

Suddenly there was a thunderous boom right behind Kraus, making him stiffen before a very large green hand wrapped around his waist, seeing it was somewhat big enough and ripped him away from Elle. The large hand flung the man away from her across the room where he slammed into tables, probably breaking a couple of bones. The large green giant spun to look down at the startled girl and her puppets, who had even backed away in surprise from The Hulk. 

Elle drew back, somewhat fearful but awed at the same time as she looked back up at The Hulk. She was still holding Blade close to her while her puppets crowded around her, looking up at the giant green being, weapons pointed at him but not moving to attack him. 

The Hulk growled, curling his lips to reveal his somewhat yellowish teeth but then he raised a closed fist and dropped what looked like a large duffle bag right front of them. He leaned over Elle, pointing at the bag. "Run." he growled out before whirling around to face the one who had come to run up to them. He growled at the sight of the Hydra Agent, the woman. He stood up, his head scrapping against the ceiling before roaring at her, his fists raised and back arched threateningly. 

The woman narrowed her eyes up at him, not flinching for one second before she obviously smirked under her mask, dipping her head down low so that strands of her green hair fell over dark green eyes. She raised her hand with the gauntlet and green gem as it began to glow, and surprisingly, sharp nails began to push right out of the finger tips of her glove. "Hmm. The Hulk, himself. Such an honor. I love the color green. It's my favorite color." She said in a dark, seductive voice. She raised her now clawed hand higher, the gem glowing brighter. 

Growling, The Hulk stomped his foot hard against the ground, cracking the tiles under his abnormally large feet. He was clearly guarding Elle as she quickly grabbed the bag and opened it, ushering her puppets inside. She looked at Six-Shooter, however, who had refused to get in but grab a hold of her shoulder. He was obviously wanting to just be carried, probably wanting to be the one to cover her as they ran. 

"We want that girl, Hulk. Hand her over." The Hydra woman said not seeming to be intimidated by his threatening nature one bit. 

Again, The Hulk roared, blocking her from even looking at Elle Toulon as she stood up, swinging the bag full of puppets over her shoulder and lifting Six-Shooter into her arm, which had his guns trained on any one that seemed to threaten his mistress. The large green being roared again before swinging a fist at the woman, who did not flinch but jumped backwards to avoid being hit by that massive fist. He tried to go after her, stomping against the ground and swinging his fists again so to smash the woman. 

"Carmilla! Just take him out, already!" The energy ball throwing Hydra Agent yelled as he kept flinging his energy balls at The Avengers as they attacked back. 

Sending that one a smirk, the woman, Carmilla Black, also known as Scorpion, looked back at Hulk, who was charging and swinging. She had to keep moving to avoid getting hit but she did with great agility and skills. "Sorry, Daddy-O. Got to take you out now." She said darkly before she dodged his fist again and then swung her clawed hand right at his outstretched arm. She slashed at the large arm right in front of her, leaving five long scratches along his arm before she had to jump back again when he swung at her. 

Nonetheless, even as Hulk swung at her, his eyes grew wide as if surprised by something and he began moving slower. He kept charging at her but his motions were much slower than before. He looked like he was starting to tremble in strain as he kept trying to hit the woman before he stopped all together. He seemed frozen on the spot. And to his surprise, he actually broke out into a sweat, his skin starting to pale. He was even starting to shrink in size until it was Bruce Banner standing there in shredded pants, looking alarmed but frozen. 

Smirking, Carmilla Black stepped forward, touching Bruce's nose. "You look surprised, Banner? Well, you should be." She held up her claws and eyed the tips of her gauntlet. "There is now a poison running through your blood system. Don't worry. It's not lethal. But it paralyzes you and your big green beast. It will last only a half an hour. Long enough for us to retreat with the girl." She then frowned as she looked around before cursing softly. She did not see Elle Toulon anywhere. The girl must have ran when she had been busy dodging The Hulk. "Damn it. She's already gone." She remarked dryly before shrugging and smirking darkly at Bruce. "Well, maybe we will get her next time." She removed her finger tip from Bruce's nose before turning around to eye where her comrades were fighting the other Avengers. 

The Asian Hydra Agent was slashing Clint Barton's arrows out of the air with his katana and moving to avoid getting shot by Natasha Romanov as she shot at him and the Hydra Soldiers, killing them but kept missing him. The energy ball throwing mutant was keeping Ironman, Steve Rogers and Thor distracted by throwing his balls at them. They were all locked in battle, too distracted to see what had happened to their not so jolly green giant. 

"Gorgon, Hardball! Retreat now!" Carmilla yelled as she turned to head directly over to the very injured Kraus. "Retreat!" She ordered to the Hydra Soldiers, who all immediately moved to listen to her while throwing smoke grenades at everyone in the room. 

Hisses of the grenades immediately went off as smoke began shooting out into the air. The entire room began filling with acid like green smoke, making it so hard for all of them to see or even fight to stop the Hydras from retreating. There were several coughs from those who weren't wearing masks as protection. Meaning Iron Man was the only one who wasn't coughing up his lungs from the smoke. It did not take long for the smoke to clear out a moment later, revealing that the Hydras were gone and so was Elle Toulon. But they did see Hulk's predicament. 

"Banner!" Iron Man shouted as he flew over to the frozen Bruce, followed by everyone else. He landed directly in front of his friend and comrade, looking him over in bewilderment. He poked at him, seeing that only Bruce's eyes narrowed at him. It was the only movement that he could do and he did not look amused whatsoever. "Wow. I am curious how this happened." 

Bruce narrowed his eyes at Tony even more, wanting so very much to just shake his head at him and probably go green again just to punch the billionaire across the room. 

"Where is Elle Toulon?!" Steve asked, in alarm as he looked around. 

"Sheaw gaw awahhhh." Bruce tried speak though it was kind of hard to when his mouth was wide open in the same snarl that Hulk had been wearing just before he froze. Everyone frowned at him, trying to figure out what he just said. He rolled his eyes. "Sheaw gaw awahhh. Laaaaf...gaawwwwn......" He tried again. 

Slowly nodding as she listened very hard to what he had been trying to say, Natasha understood a second later. "She's gone? She got away?" She asked just to be certain. 

If he could, Bruce would have nodded but since he couldn't he tried to say yes only for it to come out as "Yaaaaashhhhh." 

"God damn it!" Someone shouted in annoyance and the Avengers looked to see the four S.H.I.E.L.D Agents storming over, not looking happy with them for one minute. It had been the leading Agent who swore, glaring at the six of the members. "She was our target! And you let her escape! S.H.I.E.L.D Command is not going to be....." 

But it was Natasha who reacted, her face set in complete stone as she stomped over to him and threw her fist right into the S.H.I.E.L.D Agent's face, punching him hard enough to send him flying to the ground. She raised her guns at the other three, who had been reaching for hers. She was not the only one to point her weapon at them. Even Clint raised his bow and arrow, Thor raised his hammer, Steve had his shield up and Iron Man simply raised his glowing hand, aiming it right at them. 

"Believe me. We are going to talk to Nick Fury about this." Natasha hissed angrily, her eyes narrowed at them. "We had it completely under control until you four idiots came bursting in and scared her and her puppets! If you would have just let us deal with her, she would be with us. SAFE!! And the fact that it is obvious that S.H.I.E.L.D did something to her and her puppets, we will be having a nice long talk about that with Fury!" 

"Yes, we will. It seems that there are a few more secrets that Fury decided to hide from us." Steve said not amused in the slightest. And everyone agreed with him. Even the two S.H.I.E.L.D Spies, their selves. They were still loyal to their employers but the fact that they didn't know what S.H.I.E.L.D had done something bad to an innocent girl, they were definitely not happy about it.


	5. Chapter Four

S..H.I.E.L.D Headquarters-

 

"What the hell happened in Las......." Nick started to say, only to be cut off when Steve Rogers walked right to him and grabbed him by the front of his shirt and jacket. 

Immediately everything went tense. Guards and Agents yanked their guns, aiming at the WWII soldier but found that the other Avengers yanked out theirs and were aiming right back at them, while Steve glared at Fury. 

"Whao! Whoa!" Maria Hill shouted, her hands spread out as if to stop everyone from making a shoot out of their main command center. 

"What the hell did you do to her, Fury?! What did S.H.I.E.L.D do to Eleanor Toulon?!" Steve snapped, keeping the black man's feet off the ground, who did look surprised but was easing into relaxation. 

"I don't think I know......" Fury was saying calmly. 

"The hell you don't!" Tony snapped as he marched up to the main controls with an annoyed Bruce Banner and had to shove an agent out of his way as he began typing at the keyboard. He began searching for something, going through the database. 

"Hey, that is S.H.I.E.L.D prop......!" Hill was saying only to be cut off by Natasha as she blocked her from stopping Tony and Bruce as they searched the database. It was mostly the gun in her face and the stone cold look that the red haired beauty wore that kept the dark haired beauty from doing anything. 

"S.H.I.E.L.D has gone after her bfore, haven't they?!" Steve demanded, glaring at Fury. "She was scared to death of us when we mentioned you, Fury! What the hell did S.H.I.E.L.D do to her?!" 

Tony and Bruce suddenly made a noise before they looked at the screen when they tried to open a file, only to be blocked by a red blink sign that said AUTHORIZED PERSONEL ONLY. The billionaire grunted before folding his arms and turning to give Fury a cold look. "Cap, put him down. Fury, open the damn file. Show us what the hell was done to her puppet, Decapitron." He said coldly. 

Steve released Fury to drop the few inches, where he did not move but straightened his clothes. "Open the file, Nick." 

"What do you think is going to happen if you see that file, Stark, Rogers? How do you think it is going to help her.......?" Fury asked seriously. 

"You just want that formula that brought the puppets to life, don't you?" Bruce asked, his eyes starting to glow green and all of the S.H.I.E.L.D ops tensed up and started backing away from him. 

Fury stared stonily at them for a long moment before he.sighed and walked over. He met Tony's eyes, looking hard into them before he turned his one good eye onto the keyboard and typed in the password. He then turned back once the password was accepted and the file opened. "I hope you know what you all are doing. I sent you after her because I didn't want to send Deadpool after her. He would have scared her more if he went." He said before pushing enter on the keyboard. 

The room erupted with noise. Horrifying noise that haunted everyone in the room from the moment the video log began playing. 

Everyone looked at the holo screen and saw something horrific. It was a video of a group scientists bent over a medica berth, where a small two foot puppet was strapped down on. It was writhing as they were tearing it apart. Its chest had been cut open, showing mechanical parts and glowing green liquid. They were extracting the liquid from the glass tank inside the wooden and metal chest. 

A horrible screech was coming from the puppet as it thrashed in its bindings. The head of the puppet looked like carved metal and strangely, it kept shifting into a face of what looked like an elderly man. 

"Pl-please.......stop........! Don't, ple-please.....! Not.....meant.....for you!" A voice of a man kept saying over and over again. 

And the video ended with the person filming it turning away as if they couldn't bear to watch any more. It froze as if someone pushed pause and it was clear in the shadows, of a vent there were two forms watching. It was almost too hard to see, probably not even had been noticed by those who had been in the room. But The Avengers saw them. 

Blade and Jester, watching what was being done to their fellow puppet. 

"You have some explaining to do, Fury." Tony said coldly, his arms still folded. He was looking livid. "We met that girl and her puppets. She was scared of us. And I suppose you have a good explanation for why you murdered......" 

"It was just a puppet, Stark." Fury argued stonily. 

"No, it wasn't. It was a human soul inside a puppet." Steve said livid. "And you had it torn a part and killed. No wonder she was so scared when we mentioned you! That was Andre Toulon, Fury! That was her grandfather! And you killed him!" 

Fury shook his head, hands on his waist. "He was already dead, Rogers! That was doing Toulon a favor! And all of you! S.H.I.E.L.D needed that formula! Without it we couldn't have......!" He tried saying. 

"Why did you need it?!" Now it was Clint who demanded. 

Fury raised his brows at him. "Excuse me?!" He demanded right back, not believing that his very own archer was questioning him. 

"Did I stutter?! Why did you need it, sir?!" Clint said again, his arms folded across his chest. 

Fury stared stonily at him for a long moment before he looked past him and then looked impatient and annoyed. "God damn it! I thought I told you to stay with your team! I told you not to come here.when they're here!" He snapped no longer paying the Avengers, who turned around in their own annoyance and then froze. 

"Sorry, sir. You can write me down for insubordination. But I think this time, they deserve an explanation." Agent Phil Coulson said as he walked in with a very pretty Asian woman right behind him. 

Everything went dead quiet as everyone stared in shock and disbelief. They just could not believe their eyes as they watched Coulson walk to them. 

"Co-Coulson?! You......you are alive?" Thor asked in shock. 

Coulson looked at him, smiling faintly before slowly nodding. "Apparentlly." He looked squarely at Fury, shaking his head now frowning. "I found out the truth of how I am back alive. Skye found the file when she went snooping through S.H.I.E.L.D information. I already reprimended her for it but sir," he shook his head, now placing his hands on his own waist. "I think you owe all of us an explanation." He said more.calmly than the Avengers had. 

And everyone looked at Fury, who sighed and went over to a chair to lounge in. "When Loki killed you, Coulson, you were dead. Completely. But we put we put your body on ice, hoping to preserve your body, just like what happened with Captain, here." He motioned to Steve, who frowned. "We found out about Hydra looking for Andre Toulon's puppets. Found out about the serum that was used to bring the dead back to life. And we looked for it." 

"Wait a minute. Elle Toulon said that S.H.I.E.L.D went after her grandfather, Robert Toulon. Coulson died a year ago! So does that mean......." Steve was saying. 

Fury nodded planting his head on the tips of his fingers. "When we acquired the puppet, Decapitron, it was the second we had confronted the Toulons for the serum. The first time, I wasn't a part of S.H.I.E.L.D at that time. S.H.I.E.L.D had heard about Andre Toulon's miraculous serum and his puppets. The CO's at the time made some bad decisions that cost Robert Toulon's life. It was a complete accident that killed him. And it didn't help that Hydra got involved. We left the remaining Toulons alone for a long time, covering their tracks even though they didn't know that we were helping them hide." He motioned to Coulson who was frowning deeply, not seeming to like this story. "When Coulson died, it was not my decision that we went after Franklin Toulon and his daughter, Eleanor and their puppets. That was S.H.I.E.L.D Command. Hydra beat us to them and we lost track of Eleanor for a little while. When we found her again, we did try to confront her peacefully. But the puppets did not take our appearance well. They reacted violently to our presense and one of them was damaged enough in the fight that we had it in our grasp." 

"And then you tore him a part." Tony said coolly. 

Slowly, Nick Fury nodded, his eye down on the floor. "We wanted to find any way of bringing Coulson back to life. We felt like he deserved it after what he did to try and stop Loki. We used the small amount of the serum from the puppet on him. And well......you can see the results." He said waving to Coulson. 

Impatiently, Tony shook his head as he dropped his arms. "And now, there is a scared girl out there, being hunted down by Hydra AND S.H.I.E.L.D agents and we can't go anywhere near her again because she thinks we are going to hurt her other puppets." He said darkly. "Hope you are proud of yourself, Fury. She needs help. She can't keep running like this." 

Slowly Fury nodded, looking up at him. "We need those puppets....." he was saying. 

"No, we aren't touching those puppets!" Bruce said firmly, his eyes still glowing green. "Those puppets may not be innocent but they are protecting an innocent girl. They get left alone, Fury." 

"Those puppets possess very valuable intel, Banner. Think of what we can do with that......." Fury was saying. 

Growling, his voice deepening, Banner glared at him, his fist slamming into the wall next to him, making quite an impressive dent. "No one should be able to play God, Fury! You cannot keep messing around with Life and Death! Some people are just meant to stay dead, whether we like it or not! Even if they died as a hero or died a villain! I am glad to see Coulson again but not like this!" He snapped, his skin turning slightly green. 

"Toulon sure did, didn't.......!" 

Clearing his throat, Coulson stepped in between Fury and Bruce, looking directly at his boss. "Sir, with all due respect, I regret that you brought me back to life." His words stunned everyone in the room, shutting up any and all arguments. He inhaled deeply, raisingnhis head. "As far as I can tell, Eleanor Toulon is not Andre Toulon. She is not some murderous villain who kills people to get the mixture for the serum. She hasn't created her own puppet. She is innocent and as long as she is their master, the puppets will not kill anyone unless they mean to threaten her or them again. By trying to take the puppets from her, it is threatening her." He slowly shook his head. "Those puppets are all she has left, Nick. They are her only family left. The fact that you did use one puppet to bring me back, I appreciate what you did but not at the cost of an innocent or her guardians, her heroes. If we go after again, it has to be in peace. Not like what happened almost a year ago." He told him firmly. 

There was a long silence before Fury rubbed his one eye before nodding. "All right. The problem is, now that she knows we know about her and her puppts and she did just get caught in the middle of a fight between us and the Hydra, she will not trust us again. Any ideas?" He asked wearily. 

No one spoke. No one could think of an idea. There would be no way that Elle Toulon would let any of the Avengers near her or her puppets without fightingnback or bolting. 

When no one spoke, Fury sighed and stood up. "All right then. We will have to do it my way then." He said before motioning all to follow him. 

 

"Are you out of your mind?! This is your plan?! Things are going to get worse now! We can't use HIM to......" Steve was saying as they walked down to the containment cells. 

Fury shook his head as he walked on with the Avengers behind him, as well as Coulson and his partner, whom everyone learned that her name was Agent Melinda May. They learned what Fury's plan was and everyone blew up. No one could believe what he had in mind. 

"Fury, you are definitely losing it! Sending him after her is not going to help! Like you said before, he is going to scare her worse than......!" Tony tried to argue. 

"Welp, it is either this or you can go breaking her door down, making her more mistrustful of you. And let's face it. We can't do that. We just need him to catch her off guard, tie her and her puppets up, bring her back to us and then sit her and the puppets down for a long talk." Fury said as he flashed a look t the guards that were guarding the high security level of the containment cells. "Problem is, you can die or you can hurt her. I think the best solution is to send in someone who can't die and won't hurt her." 

"You have lost it, Sir. He is probably going to kill her!" Natasha said blandly. 

Fury smirked in her direction. "No he won't. Haven't you learned something yet from your last fight, Romanov? He didn't make any move towards you to hurt you, now did he? While Deadpool is a stone cold, clearly insane killer, he rarely kills women or even kids. It's a part of his code or something. He doesn't target them if he can help it. There has never been a time where he killed a kid. At least to what I know. And any woman I have heard him kill was attacking him with extreme power or targeting people he was hired to protect or he liked." He said before he lead the way through big metal doors where there was a glass cell with obvious electric wire running along the glass as well as high powered blaster guns aimed directly at the one sitting in the middle of the cell, bouncing a rubber ball off the electric walls, not caring about the zaps that came after it. 

Everyone had to hesistate when they saw him without his red and black leather clothes or his weapons. He was dressed in simple gray sweat pants and a gray tank top. He had some strange looking cuffs on his wrists and ankles but they were not even connected to each other. 

"What the hell are those?" Tony asked frowning as they approached the cell. 

"Power blocks. They keep him from using his powers. It was borrowed technology from William Striker. A bit inhumane, I know. But very nessessary in Wilson's case." Fury said as he walked straight up to the glass cell and looked at Wade Wilson who was clearly ignoring him. "Wilson, we need to talk." 

"I want my phone call, asshole." Wilson said blankly not even looking at them as he kept bouncing the ball off the walls. "Stupid prick. He really thinks he can hold us." He spoke again, his voice high pitched again. "I don't know about you guys, but I think we are a little fucked in this cell." 

A few frowned as they glanced at each other, not liking this any more than they already didn't. Was he seriously talking to himself?

Fury huffed, shaking his head as he placed his hands on his waist. "I already told you, Wilson, like I told you the last fifty eight fucking times. You don't get a phone call. Now turn around. I need to talk to you. It's important." He growled out irritably. 

"Fuuuuuuck off then. I don't get my phone call, I don't talk to you." The scarred bald merc said still bouncing the ball off the walls. "Unless you have some tacos. And chimichungas. And maybe some burritos with extra hot sauce." 

"God damn it, Wilson! We don't have time for this shit! Turn around!" Fury growled, looking pissed. 

All he got was a middle finger. 

"Hey, Deadpool. Since you won't talk to him, talk to us." Tony said now stepping forward, ignoring the look he got from Fury. 

There was a pause in bouncing the ball before Wilson bounced it harder than before and while the ball was airborne, he flipped both middle fingers over his shoulder. "Six times fuck off, Stark. A fuck off for all of you goody goody two shoes. I am in this place because of you! And big, dumb blonde smashed my head in! Do you know how much that fucking hurt! Hurts even more when I am regenerating!" He exclaimed, bouncing the ball harder. 

Everyone groaned before it was Bruce who stepped forward. "Look, Wade Wilson, we need your help." He stated. 

Wilson barked out a laugh as he caught the ball before he threw it harder than before. "Ha! Did you hear that laugh! No? Here, let me do it again! HA!" He laughed harshly and caught the ball again and threw it with a loud thwack. 

"There is a girl involved." Coulson suddenly spoke up now smug. 

Wilson caught the ball with a loud thwack and it went dead quiet. He just sat there, quiet, holding the ball in his scarred hand. 

Then slowly, Wilson turned around and looked directly at Coulson, his hand dropping into his lap and he raised his scarred eyebrows at him, an almost lecherous smile on his face. "Okay, now you have my attention. Is she pretty?" He asked now dropping his chin into his hand as he propped it up on his knee. 

Everyone stared bewildered, mouths falling in shock. They couldn't believe that actually worked. 

"Gorgeous." Coulson said now looking smug as he walked right up to the glass cell and looked into Wilson's dark brown eyes. He reached into his inner jacket and surprised everyone by puling a picture of Elle Toulon and her puppets, showing it to the merc. "See? This is her. And she is in trouble. She needs your help." 

Whistling a wolf whistle, Wilson leaned closer to see the picture better. "Damn. She is hot. What kind of trouble is she in besides giving me a boner?" He asked staring at the picture. 

Everyone grimaced or stared dumbly at him, not amused. 

Coulson grimaced himself and kept his eyes up so not to see if that statement was true or not. "Hydra is hunting her down. They want to hurt her. We need you to find her and take her to Avengers Tower." He told him. 

Squinting an eye at him but smiling, Wilson drew back. "What, not bring here at S.H.I.E.L.D?" He then laughed when he saw everyone behind Coulson glance at one another. "Ohhhhhh, I can't bring her here, can I? So what did you bastards do to her if she is scared of you?" He asked chuckling, definitely amused. 

Fury glared, The Avengers grimaced and shifted sheepishly and Coulson exhaled softly. He pointed at the puppets in the picture. "See the puppets?" He waited until Wilson gave him a sarcastic look before nodding at him. "They're not puppets. Not exactly. They are.......spirits in puppet bodies. They have human souls inside of them. S.H.I.E.L.D made a mistake with one of her puppets and is also responcible for a few things that happened with dealing with her family. The puppets are all she has now. They guard her and she guards them. They are quite dangerous when cornered." He stated. 

"Yeah? They look like toys to....." Wilson paused before narrowing both eyes at him. "Wait. Human spirits?" His face fell and he leaned back. "Is she a Necro?" He asked dully. 

Coulson paused for a moment. "No." He said though sounding uncertain. 

Wilson gave him a blank look. "You do realize that if she is a Necromancer, my answer is no. No matter how hot she is." He said dryly. 

Coulson sighed as he put the picture back into his pocket, backing away. He had hoped that it would be simplier than this. "She is a Necromancer, Wade. But she is an innocent one. She is in trouble." He told him. 

"Heh, heh, I don't care. I don't do Necros." Wilson said sarcastically. 

"Why?" Natasha asked her arms folded across her chest as she shifted her weight. 

Wilson looked at her from a tilt before scoffing. "I can't die, all right. I have danced Death plenty of times. Literately. She is a mutant and she is a hot one." He recieved bewildered looks from that. "And believe me, she wants me bad. Problem is, I can't die. And I don't want to. I like living. Necros can kill me. Completely. Had a run in with once and it almost turned really ugly. Uglier than Wolvie on a bad hair day." He rolled his eyes before glancing to the side. "Shut up. I'm getting there." He recieved weirded out looks again. "Point is, I piss this girl off, she does some of her necro stuff. Pffftt. I am gone, history and I am not coming back." 

"What if I just pay you ten thousand to go after her?" Tony said rolling his eyes and throwing his hands up. 

Immediately, Wilson perked up and clicked his fingers at him. "Make it 25 grand up front then I will." He stated already climbing to his feet. 

"Done." Coulson burst out all of a sudden while everyone gaped at the scarred mutant in alarm. He turned to look at Fury, smiling at him. He paused before shrugging. "He is a mercenary, after all, sir. You have to pay him." 

"Ah, who is paying him?" Tony asked in alarm. 

Coulson walked towards him, pausing to pat the billionaire on the shoulder. "You are." He simply said before walking over to his fellow team member, while Tony spluttered. 

"Okay! Let me out, give me my shit and I will be on my way." Wilson said, making everyone look at him and freeze in alarm or their faces flushed bright red. It was due to the fact that he was already stripped of his jail house clothes, standing butt naked in the middle of the cell. 

"Jesus Christ." Tony groaned, his face falling into his hand and he shook his head. 

"What? You jealous?" Wilson sneered at him before looking down. "Heh, pretty big, ain't I?" He just had to say it. 

"Someone give him his damn clothes so he can get dressed." Fury growled, shaking his head before freezing when he noticed both Natasha and Melinda May raise their eyebrows and tilt their heads to the side as they stared at Wilson. He just stared until they noticed he was staring at them. 

Natasha cleared her throat before looking away finally. "What? That is actually pretty decent for a guy who has been through the shredder." She said as if being accused of something scandalous. 

Wilson grinned, puffing up his chest with pride. 

Rolling his eye, Fury waved his hand towards some guards. "Give him his damn clothes!" He snapped before turning to leave. "Once he is dressed, bring him to the main control room and we will debrief him on what to expect from the Toulon girl." And then he left the room, stomping the entire way. He was soon followed after by the Avengers, though Natasha did spare a glance over her shoulder at Wilson again. 

Once fully dressed and returned of his weapons, Deadpool was lead to the main control room, guarded by a few guards at somewhat gun point. He ignored them as he just walked in, looking around, whistling. 

"Wow. Nice place you have. Defintely have it going on. Ooooh!" Deadpool burst and swiftly, not ran, to one of the windows. Everyone had tensed, weapons cocked but everyone relaxed when the merc literately stuck his face against the window and looked out at the clouds surrounding the base. "Duuuu-huuu-huuude! Are we flying?!"

Rolling his eye, Fury shook his head while looking at the amused looks on The Avengers' faces. He was glad they were enjoying seeing the merc acting like a kid. Him, himself, not so much. "Can we just get on with the debriefing?! We need to find the girl before Hydra does!" He snapped. 

Tearing his face from the window, Deadpool gave him quite the look. "Yeesh! Relax, Cyc......wait. I can't call you cyclops. That name is already taken. Damn Summers." He muttered before looking thoughtful then clicked his fingers and pointed at Fury. "How about Pirate?! You look like a pirate! Yeah........you are now Captain Pirate! And since you have a nick name, everyone else gets one." he pointed at Clint, who was laughing. "Robin Hood! Sexy Beeotch." He pointed at Natasha who rolled her eyes but did look amused. "Rich Bitch." He told Tony, who did not amused. "BFG, which stands for Big Fucking Green." He said to Bruce, who raised his eyebrows. Then he pointed at Thor, who was frowning. "Already got one for you. Dumb Blonde." He was glared at by the God of Thunder. He pointed at Steve, who was staring dully at him. "Captain Boyscout. And for you, Coolson." He said pointing at Coulson, who just smiled and shook his head. "Because you're cool. You let me out of that damn cell and......" 

"Shut up and just listen! God damn it." Fury snapped not amused at all. "Deadpool, we do not have time for you to run your mouth." 

"My mouth isn't running. It's stuck to my face." Deadpool said obviously grinning and his grin widened when everyone laughed. 

"I am going to shoot you." Fury said darkly, his hand on his gun. 

"Kinky. Tell me more dirty stuff." Deadpool said still grinning and everyone laughed again. 

"Oh, for the love of god......!" Fury exclaimed, his hands thrown up. 

"Her name is Eleanor Toulon. Her puppets have their names too." Coulson began as he held up what looked like a small hand held. "This file has everything you need to know about her and her puppets. This is all you need to know." 

Deadpool walked right over and took the hand held computer, activating it to see the file. It emitted a holo screen, which he plucked at the images, enlarging some of the information. "Kewl! You definitely have to let me keep this afterwards! I always wanted one of these things since they came out!" He said excitedly before tapping on the file of Eleanor Toulon. He skimmed through the information before giving Fury a look, that was clearly not amused. "Really? You killed her grand dad? No wonder she is pissed at you!" 

"It was god damn puppet!" Fury exclaimed in frustration. 

"To her it wasn't." Deadpool stated as he began plucking info of the puppets. He snickered at some of them. "Kewl. Puppets who kill. I think I like them already." He recieved dry looks. Then he closed.the handheld and stuffed it into his waist pouch he had hanging on his belt. "Okay. Where is she at?" 

No one answered but Fury looked at Maria Hill, who was looking at another screen. "We lost her in Las Vegas, sir. When the Avengers let her go. She could be anywhere by now. It will take a lot to find her again." She said grimly. 

"Pffft. No wonder you want me to go after her. You don't know anything about being on the run, do you?" Deadpool said and surprised everyone to see him lounging on Fury's chair, upside down, rocking himself back and forth. He flipped over his head and stood up again. "She is a fugitive. She is scared. And she has people hunting for her. What do you think she is going to do?" 

"She probably left Las Vegas then........" Steve was saying. 

Suddenly Deadpool was up in his face, pointing a finger at his nose and making him back up in alarm. "Wrongo! She is exactly where she has been hiding while being in LV. You are looking for her in airports and bus stops, right?" He recieved nods and he shook his head. "She probably thought of that. She is still in Las Vegas. Probably checked in at some rat shit hotel or in an abandoned warehouse where you won't look for her." He then grabbed his belt and pulled it up as if pulling up his pants before confidently turning away from everyone and going to the computer consol. "It was the Palms Casino where everything went down, right? Welp, let us see where a warehouse is." He said before he began pushing buttons. 

"Hey! Not that one!" Hill snapped jumping forward to stop him. 

There was a loud boom and everyone saw missiles firing out the window. 

"Nope! Not that one!" Deadpool said cheerfully before pushing another. Alarms went off throughout the entire ship. "Not that one." He pushed another one and screens popped up, revealing crude images of porn websites. "Heh, someone has been baaaad." He pointed at one IT who went bright red in embarrassment and looked sheepish. "Oh, it was you! Ow!" He yelped when Fury slapped him upside the head. "Okay, okay. I will quit fucking around." 

Fury glared at him before looking at the embarrassed IT. "As for you, I will talk to you later for misuse of S.H.I.E.L.D property." He said darkly. 

"Dun, dun, dun, duuuuuuun." Deadpool just had to say in a dispairing way. And he flinched when Fury raised a hand to slap his head again. 

And a satillite map pulled up of Las Vegas rather quickly. 

Everyone studied it carefully, trying to find any possible hide away that Elle Toulon could have been. There were quite a few places. Too many, in fact. 

"Hill, can we reverse the satillite feed from a few hours ago? At the time that The Avengers engaged with Hydra?" Fury asked, looking at his soldier. 

Hill nodded and did just that. It went back pretty far until they saw the Palms Casino with people running from the building. Shenpaused it before having it zoom in until it was in the streets. They studied it for a good moment before Bruce pointed it out. 

They found her. 

Elle Toulon was amongst the crowd, running out into the streets. She had Six-Shooter on her shoulder, as well as the bag of puppets. She was obviously glancing over her shoulder, as if seeing if anyone was following her. 

"Skip ahead, follow her." Fury ordered. 

Hill nodded and pushed play and eceryone watched Elle dash through the streets of the Strip. She eventually ducked into an alley and Hill had to change the angle to see her again. It looled like she stopped, looking into the bag and was pulling out Blade. The look on her face was haunting enough as se examined him before carefully putting him back. 

A moment later, Elle was on her way again dashing across streets, constantly looking over her shoulder. She would pause as of talking to her puppets, always Six-Shooter since he was out and was watching around them. 

And finally, what seemed too long, Elle Toulon walked towards what looked dark houses. Suburbs. 

"What are those?" Fury asked frowning. 

Hill paused the footage and looked up the information, her eyes narrowing. "A new development. New homes that had been built but no one lives in any of them. Apparently the economy is so bad over there that no one can afford living in them. Not yet anyway. There is one family that is scheduled to start moving in next week. The house that she is heading into now," she paused as they watched Elle enter one house. "Is the house. It has already been furnished. Just waiting for the family come in." She stated. 

Fury nodded as he looked at Deadpool, who was studying the house very carefully. "So that is where she is. Don't scare her, Wilson. We need her alive, unafraid and unharmed. Bring her to Avengers Tower. We will talk to her there." He told him firmly. 

Deadpool scoffed as he turned away from him. "Dude, Captain Pirate, lighten up. I got this. Where are we anyway? We over Las Vegas?" He asked looking at Maria Hill who nodded. 

"We are five thousand feet over the city. Go with Coulson and Agent May and we will have a helicarrier take you down, outside the suburbs......." Fury was saying. 

"Nope. I got this." Deadpool said almost smugly. 

BAMFT!

Everyone jumped in alarm when he suddenly vanished, leaving sulfric smelling smoking wafting in the air. He was gone and everyone didn't know.......

"Whoa!" One of the ITs exclaimed in alarm, looking out the window. 

"He did not just.....!" Bruce was saying as everyone hurried to the windows and looking out. 

And sure enough, they saw Deadpool teleporting all over the sky just outside the S.H.I.E.L.D ship, probably doing it long enough so he could pause to wave at them and salute them with his middle finger before just falling. He was out of view in the clouds a moment later. 

Scoffing, Tony shook his head and folded his arms. "He does realize that even if he teleports all the way down to the ground, at the velocity he still is falling at, he is still going to go splat or nreak bones when he lands, right?" He asked dryly.

"Probably." Coulson was the one to say with a shrug. "Difference is, it isn't going to kill him either way. Just cause him a lot of pain when he is does." 

"How much do you want to bet he is going to screw it up?" Natasha asked sarcastically. 

"Don't underestimate that one, Avengers." Fury said as he went to the satillite feed and pulled up the images of Las Vegas, of the house that Elle Toulon was hiding in. "Whether he does confront Eleanor Toulon and manages to catch her or he has to fight her puppets, she will be at the Sta.....Avengers Tower. Willingly or not. All we can do now, is wait and see."


	6. Chapter Five

"..........aaaahhhhhhh! *BAMFT!* aaaaaaaaah*BAMFT!* aaaaaaaahhhhhh *BAMFT!* AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!"

SPLAT, Crack!

"OOOOOOWWWW!!! SON OF A BITCH!!!!" Deadpool exclaimed as he just laid in the dark streets just outside the suburbs where his target was hiding. He just laid there, his legs very awkwardly bent and shattered with a few bones poking out under the red leather, luckily not having peirced through the fabric. 

"SERVES YOU RIGHT." Deadpool's serious, deep voice said from his own body. "THAT WILL TEACH YOU TO JUST TELEPORT RIGHT OFF A SHIP FIVE THOUSAND FEET OFF THE GROUND AND BREAKING BOTH OF OUR LEGS IN THIS STUPID STUNT." 

"Dude! Not cool! Ow! That hurts like a bitch!" Deadpool now spoke in a slightly high pitch. 

"NO DUH." 

"Okay, guys shut up. Let's lay here.....ow. And just heal our legs." Deadpool groaned, twitching as he listened to the gut wrenching, body flinching, disgusting sounds of bones shifting and cracking and snapping back into place. He groaned in pain a few times as he flinched from the painful experience of his bones moving back into place until they were.sealed back to where they were suppose to be. 

After a long period of time, Deadpool finally climbed to his feet, yelping when there came a loud crack as he moved too soon and had to wait an extra minute of the bone reforming again after breaking it. 

"Whew!" Deadpool said as he finally stood and kicked out his feet to test the pain in them. "Okay, next time, we are not listening to Deadpool Idiot number three and just teleporting down from five thousand feet." He said to himself before looking around.

The area all around him was dark with only a few lamp lights on, illuminating the streets. There were a long line of dark houses in front of him, but only one seemed to have light on the inside. 

"There we go. Landed in the right spot." Deadpool said as he started walking, though sticking to the shadows. He stopped across the street, hiding in bushes and studied the house. He even took out binnoculars to look much closer. 

The shades were drawn across the windows, blocking out some of the light in only one room. There was only one window that had his attention the most. It was due to the small figure that was sitting on the window sill, looking out. He used the binnoculars.to take a closer look and found that it was a small Jester doll. It was even moving slightly, as if keeping watch on the streets. 

"We found the right place, all right? Now how to get in without raising suspicion?" Deadpool asked as he stared at the house. 

And head lights flooded the streets, making the merc jerk around his head to see who was coming. And lo and behold, it was a pizza delivery guy in a beat up VM Bug. Probably lost by the look on his face as he was looking around in dispair. 

A wide grin spread on Deadpool's face as he stood up fully and made his way to the middle of the street. 

"HOW IS THAT SNEAKING IN?" Deadpool's first voice asked through him. 

"It's not. But it will at least get us to the door." Deadpool answered as he placed his hands on his waist. He waited until the driver spotted him, swore and slammed on his brakes. "Hello. You are ten minutes late! That means free pizza, right?" He asked cheerful as the driver just gaped at him in shock. 

 

"Jester, what's going on out there?" Elle called from the kitchen where she was working on Blade and fixing him. She put down the tools she had been using and glanced at him. "I will be right back, okay, Blade?" 

Blade just made a noise and remained laying there on the table. His black trench coat had been pulled back and his broken arm was out of the sleeve. The wood and metal frames were in view, showing that they were splintered and bent. He was a little bit of a mess but not too bad. 

Elle smiled at something he said to her before she turned and walked into the darkened living room, where Jester was stationed at the window. She had changed out of her outfit, into.sweat pants and a tank top. It was more comfortable to her. More than the skin tight outfit she had been wearing. 

Looking at Jester in the window, she cautiously walked to the window and looked out. Her heart froze when she saw a car outside the house and someone was walking towards the door. "No." She breathed before snatching up Jester and backing away, looking fearfully at the door, waiting for it to come breaking down. 

The other puppets who had been in the room scattered, finding hiding places where they could ambush whoever came through that door. 

Elle saw Six-Shooter position himself on a dish cabinent, aiming his guns and ready to shoot whoever came in. 

Pinhead was near the door, ready to grab whoever it was by the legs to hold them and Leech Woman was just above the door, readying one of her leeches to drop on their head. Even Tunneler and Torch readied their selves to do what they had to do. 

And then the doorbell rang, making Elle start in alarm and just stand there. 

For what seemed forever, Elle just stood there, her heart beating badly in her chest. She didn't dare move or breath. She flinched again when the doorbell rang again followed by a knock. 

Taking slow, but frightened breathes, Elle slowly moved to the door, staying away from it for a moment. "He-hello? Who is it?" She called, hugging Jester close to her. 

"Pizza delivery!" Someone with a deep monotone voice. "We got a pepperoni pizza with olives and sausage! Sorry it's late! Traffic was bad!" 

Elle squinted her eyes before she shared a glance with her puppets then slowly moved to the door, looking out the peephole. She made out a dark, tall figure dressed in a yellowish shirt and a ball cap pulled down low over the man's face. She frowned seeing him and he was holding a pizza box in his hand. 

"We didn't order a pizza! You have the wrong house!" Elle called through the door. 

The man slumped a little, still keeping his head down low so she couldn't see ihis face. "Oh, man! Come on! It is getting cold and this is the address I was given. If I go back to the pizza place with this, I am gonna get fired. Are you sure you didn't order a pizza?" He called back, pathetically. 

Grimacing, Elle shook her head as she watched him. "I am sure! Now go away! I want to be left alone!" She called now relaxing. 

Suddenly there was a explosion of smoke, making her tense up again. He was gone! 

" 'fraid I can't do that. I will get fired from my job. And I am getting paid good money for this job." Came the voice from behind her. 

Gasping and shrieking in shock, Elle whirled around and crashed against the door in alarm, looking at the dark figure now in the hall way. She had enough time to see eerie white eyes looking back at her before Six-Shooter began shooting. She saw Pinhead charging at the man, his large hands raised to grab him.

But suddenly with a BAMFT! and an explosion of smoke, the man was gone just as the bullets nearly hit him and slammed into the wall, leaving bullet holes and Pinhead stumbled to a stop. 

There was another BAMFT and it came from the kitchen, where she heard Blade grunt in surprise and clattering of plates. 

Heart nearly stopping, Elle raced to the kitchen with her puppets, looking around in fear, mostly at Blade, who was now up his feet on the table, watching the man as he moved around the kitchen. And shockingly, getting a plate and glass down from the cubbords, putting them down on the table near the now on guard puppet. 

Elle froze when she saw the man now in the light. 

The man was dressed from head to feet in red and black leather, completely covered. He glanced at her with his white eyes before dancing, DANCING to the fridge to find nothing. "Eh? Eww. I guess it's just water." He grumbled before moving to the sink and filling it with cold water and then plopping it down next to the plate, which already had a slice of pizza on it. 

BAMFT! 

The man was gone in sulferic smoke and suddenly reappeared sitting on the counter, his legs drawn up to his chest and watching Elle and the puppets. "So? You wanna eat or what? I'll talk while you eat. And don't tell me you're not hungry. I heard your stomach rumble." He said smugly. 

Elle frowned, looking at him in ridicule and before she could deny it, her stomach rumbled. Her face flushed as she.pressed a hand against her midde, just below Jester, who was spinning his head and stopping it to look scared and shocked at the same time. 

The man, obviously, grinned at her by the way the blank mask curved. 

The puppets at her feet chattered almost in confusion, not moving to attack this stranger again. They were just as surprised as she was. 

"Who......who are you?" Elle asked uneasily. 

The masked man scoffed softly before slapping himself in the head and shifting to jump down from the counter. "Oh, how stupid of me! Here I went and broke in and I didn't even introduce myself!" He swept into a graceful bow, gloved hand sweeping down near his feet. "The name is Deadpool, my lady." He told her, remaining in a bow. 

But the sight of twin swords on his back, as well as the guns on his waist put Elle more.on guard and stepping back. She gasped softly, moving more before she flinched when Tunnler leapt forward, head dipped down low and drill screaming. He struck the man right in the leg, sending blood flying in different directions. 

 

"OOOWWWW!" The man, Deadpool yelped and yanked his leg free, dancing backwards until he hopped up on the counter just out of Tunneler's reach. And humorously pulled out a spray bottle full of water, squirting the puppet. "Down, boy! Ya ankle biter!" 

Elle raised both eyebrows her eyes still wide in shock as she watched the gaping hole in the man's leg seal up all on its own. Her mouth fell and she sensed all of her puppets.draw back in their own surprise. "How......?! How did you do that?" She gasped, her arms tightening around Jester. 

"What? That?" Deadpool asked, pointing at his now healed leg. He made an amused sound as he whipped out a hunting knife, making everyone tense up. "That isn't nothing. Check this out." And he slammed the knife into his own head. 

Deadpool flopped and crashed to the ground in a pool of blood, even as Elle screamed and jumped back. 

A second later, Deadpool stunned her and her puppets by standing up and spreading out his arms. "Ta-da!" He cheered with the knife still in his head before he whipped it out and wiped it with a rag on the counter, blood staining it. "Can't kill me, sugar. I don't die. Or rather can't die. None of your puppets can kill me." He said before he vanished in a cloud of smoke and suddenly appeared behind her. He grabbed her by the shoulders, earning a gasp from her and hisses from the puppets. He ignored them all as he guided her to the table and forced her to sit down. He even had the gull to snatch Jester from her, earning the head spinning and an angry face from the puppet as he was practically droppedon his wooden rear end right on the table next to Blade. "Now eat, Miss Eleanor Toulon, and listen, okay?" 

Elle, startled, looked up at him and watched as he moved back to the counter and sat up on it. "Who.......what are you? Why are you here? What do you want?!" She asked uneasily, not touching the pizza slice.

Deadpool just brought his legs up close to him, his ankles crossed and he wrapped his arms around his knees. "S.H.I.E.L.D sent me to fetch you." He raised one hand when the girl and her.puppets tensed, weapons raising as.if to fight him off. "Now, hold on. You don't know what I am going to say yet. So before you "kill" me," and he used his fingers to act out the quotations. "Listen to what I gotta say. Capiche?" 

Elle slowly relaxed, motioning to her puppets to do the same. She just sat there, watching him carefully. "Well?" She asked impatiently. 

Deadpool just sat there before miming as if he was picking up something and putting it to where his mouth was. Then he pointed at the pizza. 

Rolling her eyes, Elle impatiently picked up the slice of pizza, took a bite and chewed it while giving him a sarcastic look. She just wanted to know why he was there. 

"See? That wasn't sp hard!" Deadpool said ever so cheerful before hopping down and moving to the table, looking at Blade and his damaged arm. He held out a hand and had to hold it back when the puppet raised his hook threateningly. "Little dude, you want that arm fixed or not? I know some about shit like this." He said as he picked up a piece of thin wood that Elle was going to use to replace the splintered arm piece. 

Blade paused before looking at Elle, who was staring just as bewildered before slowly stepping forward and allowing Deadpool o take his damaged arm. 

Now that he had the puppet's damaged arm, Deadpool set to work to helping repair him. "Anyway, like I wassaying. The dumbasses in S.H.I.E.L.D hired me to take you to them." He began explained as he removed Blade's damaged arm and then took the wooden pieces out. "But they never told me WHEN to take you back." He gave Elle a pointed look. "They should'a been more specific on the details. I am leaving that up to you to when to take that up their damn offer to.protecting you and your toys." He told her. 

Elle frowned as she took another bite of the pizza, chewing then swallowing. "Why? Why not force us?" She asked cautiously. 

"Heh. I find it better when girls are willing. I don't do forcing on girls. Kind of like sex." Deadpool said, obviously grinning at her and her now bright red face. He flinched when Blade swung his hook and sliced his fingers. "Yeesh. They weren't kidding when those Avengers bastards told me that these guys are protective of you. Anyway, it is up to you when you go to them. And whatever they said to you, believe it, babe. From what I figured out just by watching them, they bitched out the Supreme Commander of S.H.I.E.L.D for what they did to you. The Avengers might be goody goody hero types but they're all right. They want to help you." He told her as he set the new wooden pieces and carefully bent the metal pieces back into place. He then set to reconnect the arm back to the puppet. 

Eating slowly, Elle watched him, feeling more relaxed. She wasn't picking up any hostile vibes from him, so he couldn't too bad. "Why are you doing this job anyway? Are you from S.H.I.E.L.D!" She asked him. 

"Puh-lease." Deadpool scoffed as he glanced lightly at her. "As if. I don't do authority and S.H.I.E.L.D is packed full of them. I don't like having a boss, even if their pay rolls are probably nice. I like being my own boss. I am a mercenary. I pick the jobs, I pick the pay and if they don't like it, they can find someone else to do it. And if they don't like that, what're they gonna do? Kill me? Hah! Good luck trying. I have been shot, stabbed, poisoned, had my head cut off, my limbs ripped off, I have ben blown up, nothing works." 

"So you're immortal?" Elle asked frowning curiously. 

Deadpool shrugged. "Sure. I guess you can say that." He answered.her. 

Elle slowly shook her head, frowning. "If S.H.I.E.L.D sent you to come get me, then you know about the formula that brought my puppets to life. You're not trying to get it from me, are you?" She asked on her guard again. 

Deadpool snorted but shook his head. "Hell no." He raised his hand when she started to ask why. "Look, I might be a merc and all, but I am not gonna try and take something like that from anyone. To sell it.to the highest bidder, I might not be the smartest person and all but even I know not to fuck with something like that. There are a lot of bad people in the world and hell! I am definitely not gonna deny that some times I can be the bad guy, but to give anyone something like bringing the dead back to life shit, that ain't good karma. I am not messing with shit like that. That is why." He stated in a riduculed tone. 

Elle stared at him for a moment before she lightly smiled, glancing at Blade, who looked back. They seemed to converse with one another before nodding and looking back at Deadpool. "Thank you. Blade thinks he might actually like you." She told him. 

Deadpool obviously grinned under his mask at her. "Of course he does! How can anyone not like me?! I mean, I am totally awesome!" Now, eat up! We're gonna find something to do to pass time until you figure out when you want to go see the Avenge heads! You up for a game of poker?!" He asked grinning. 

Elle couldn't help it. She laughed.


	7. Chapter Six

"So, when he turns right around, I am right there with a nice sized Samantha bean and beef burrito in hand, which I totally smack him in the face with it and I say, next time add hot sauce on my burrito, bitch!" 

Elle laughed as she ate her pizza slice, listening to Deadpool's story about his mission to find the ultimate hottest burrito in the world. She had to admit it, the stories were lame but the way he told them were funny. She had never met someone so full of confidence and energy like this guy. She was amused and so were her puppets as they sat around her as she ate. 

"So......Deadpool, is that your actually name or do you have a real one?" Elle asked after his story. 

Deadpool, who was sitting cross legged on the counter, considered her question before shrugging. "It's Wade. Wade Wilson. I go by Deadpool most of the time when I am on a job. You know, the whole secret identity thing but not so secret." He told her. 

Elle smiled before nodding. She did understand. "So, what do you really look like under there? Why hide your face under a mask?" She asked curiously. 

It was obvious that Deadpool grimaced under his mask. "Eh.....trust me. Ya don't want to see this face. I don't look like I used to." He told her leaning back. 

Frowning, Elle stared at him. "How am I suppose to tell if your telling me the truth then? The best way of reading someone is to see their face?" She asked him. 

Again grimacing, Deadpool reached up and grabbed the tip of his mask on his head. "Well, let's put it this way," he paused before just simply tugging the mask off and watching Elle stiffen in surprise and horror to see his true face. "Would ya trust a face like this?" 

Elle stared at Deadpool's real face with a mixture of horror and shock. She had seen a lot of things in her life but this definitely topped it. She had never seen someone so horribily disfigured as this guy. "Oh my god. What happened to you?" She asked without realizing she asked the question. 

Deadpool snorted as he began pulling the mask back on to cover up his face. "Mutant experimentations. Back in the Seventies, I was a part of a Special Operation unit, in the army. I have always been a merc. But I was hired on this special task group full of mutants, lead by a homosapien Coronel, an asshole named William Striker." He explained. "He put a special group together to serve a war tthat no one knew about. We would go in and do a few jobs, most of them involved killing people. And a lot of those people were good, innocent people." He added gravely. 

"You.....you killed innocent people?" Elle asked tensely. 

Deadpool nodded as he leaned back and folded his arms. "Yep. Was paid to. Paid a lot of money. Believe me, I am not proud of it and I got what I deserved in the end." He motioned to his hidden face. "Anyway, short story is, Striker turned out to be the worse bad guy. He wanted to destroy mutants, make them into weapons of war. He used me in some project to weaponize mutant powers. I already had a Healing factor but I got an upgrade by this badass guy in my unit, a guy named James Howlette, who changed his name to Logan. He is now as you would know Wolverine from the X-Men. 

"Anyway, Striker spliced a lot of different mutants' power into me and even controlled me by some serum he created. Whole brainwashing shit. I got into a bad one with Wolverine, he kicked my ass, I kicked his, he supposibly killed me by chopping my head off and that was what released me from Striker's control. I put myself back together, made a deal with Death and began my own business of mercenary work. I made it a rule not to hurt innocents though. I got tired of doing dirty work like that. I mostly just kill bad guys. Steal, kill, sabatage, the whole works." Deadpool explained before grinning under his mask. "I am not gonna deny that I am not what I used to be. I am known to be a crazy son of bitch and I am." 

"So why did you take this job? Why does S.H.I.E.L.D want us? What did we ever do to them to make us run like this?" Elle asked now worried and showing fear once again. 

"They want the fucking secrets behind those guys." Deadpool said motioning to the puppets, who growled at the statement. "In the beginning, it was about bringing good guys back to life to keep on fighting. Immortality, I guess." He dropped his hand to his side again. "Nick Fury, The Director of the goody goody organization put a stop to the hunts on you and your family when he became the head hauncho. But why they started up again is because some guy named Coulson was killed a while back in the line of duty of saving the world from that Chitauri bullshit in NYC. He wanted to bring Coulson back. And that's why they took your old grand dad and chopped him up for the serum." 

Elle looked at her puppets when they growled at his words again. "We......that isn't right." She looked back at him with now shimmering eyes. She now looked furious. "Why can't they just leave us alone?! My family didn't do anything to them! They were killing Hydra agents! Nazis!" She exclaimed emotionally. 

Deadpool didn't look fazed. "You are a threat to them. Or that is what they think." He said quieting her again. "You are a Necromancer. You bring the dead back to life. They think if they don't get you on their side, Hydra will. And if they can't recruit you, you either get locked up or die. It's the bad way of trying to keep the peace for the world. Believe me, I think it's a load of bullshit myself. And believe me, if I wouldn't be here if I wasn't being paid a shitload of money." 

"Why? Why not just do it for the hell of it?" Elle asked sonily. 

"Because of what you are." Deadpool said honestly and it surprised her. He sighed impatiently as he pushed himself to his feet. "Look, younare a Necro. Meaning if you wanted to, you could kill a lot of people. And that means even me. You can kill me, babe. You have the power to end me for good." 

"I.....I......I..can?" Elle asked in surprise. 

Deadpool leaned towards her, now merely inches away from her. "Yup. You do some of your Necro shit on me, I am dead. And this time, I am not coming back. Not even Death will bring me back. Now the thing is, will you do it? Can you?" 

For a good long moment, Elle stared at him. She felt tempted to try. She didn't want to be chased for the rest of her life. Not by anyone. She wanted to escape. But.......she was not able to. She couldn't do it. She couldn't.......become a killer. 

So she lowered her eyes, in defeat. 

"Why are you telling me this? That I can kill you?"

"Cause I need you to trust me, Angelcakes." Deadpool said now pulling back away from her. "You are an innocent. You have a dangerous power and you refuse it for bad. You use it for good. Ad for that being the case, you are the type of person I made up my mind about protecting. You need someone to trust. I might be a mad son of a bitch but you can trust me." 

Elle finally looked up at his white eyes, stared into them before slowly smiling softly. She sent a glance towards her puppets, who looked back before they also nodded. Blade stepped forward and offered his hook to the red wearing merc. "They are all in agreement." The Puppet Master said finally looking back at Deadpool. "They trust you." 

Deadpool nodded before stepping back. "Okay then. What's your plan next, hm? You gonna come with me to Avenger Tower or keep on running?" He asked now folding his arms. "Cause I know a great place where we can get great tacos? You like tacos?! Burritos, chimichungas?" 

Elle laughed before she looked at her puppets again. "We don't know what to do next. And we don't......" she paused meeting the merc's eyes again. "We don't trust The Avengers. They might mean well but they still work for S.H.I.E.L.D and we don't trust them." She paused looking at Blade, who had moaned softly for her attention. She stared long and hard at him as he moved his arms as if talking. 

"What? What's he saying?" Deadpool asked after a long moment of silence. 

Elle looked grim and slightly frightened bit she nodded. "Blade wants to know about the Hydra agents that came after us." She looked at Deadpool. "He wants to go after them." She paused again when all of the puppets made a nod. "They all do. They want to end the threat before it comes after us again." 

Deadpool was quiet for a moment before he made an amused sound. "That's the opposite of what you usually do. You want to take down Hydra. That is pretty reckless and stupid." He then grinned under his mask. "I like it." 

"Will you help us?" Elle asked now slowly smirking at him. 

Nodding, Deadpool held out his fist towards her. "Sure. I like a good fight when I get a chance. Count me in. That means we got to find a Hydra Agent." He then stopped talking when something at his waist beeped, looking down. 

It was the hand held that Coulson gave him. 

Frowning, Deadpool plucked the hand held off his belt and looked at the screen to see why it was beeping. 

"Wh-what is that?" Elle asked now stiffening. 

Deadpool didn't answer for a moment before he stiffened himself and looked towards the wall, towards the front of the house. "Go get your stuff and quick, Angel. This is something S.H.I.E.L.D gave me before. It appears they are tracking me and they know I am with you." He said grimly. 

"The-they're coming for us?" Elle asked now scared as she hurried to stand up. 

Deadpool reached up with his free hand and grabbed one of his sword handles as he placed the hand held back on his belt. "No. They're not." He said darkly before a slightly not so sane chuckle escaped from him. "Hydra is." 

Elle stiffened and her puppets chattered. "Wh-what?" She asked fearfully. 

"Go get your stuff. Make it quick." Deadpool said instead as he began making his way towards the entry way. 

Elle quickly glanced at her puppets, nodding as she scooped up Jester and motioned to Deadpool's retreating form. She turned quickly away from them all and ran towards the stairs with her favorite in arms. 

It didn't take long for her to gather her things and even make her way back down the stairs, bags in hand, as well as a large trunk, thunking behind her as she came down. 

Deadpool glanced at it and grimaced before looking back at the door. "What's that trunk for?" He asked her. 

"This is what I usually carry the puppets in. It has been their home for a very long time. It belonged to my grandfather, Andre Toulon." Elle answered as she brought it down. 

Shaking his head, Deapool dipped his head lower, before looking at the windows as light began flooding inside. "Drop it, Sugar. It will slow is down. If it remains intact in this fight, I will have Coulson come get it. He will keep it safe for you. I promise." He told her before he went over to the stair well and hopped up onto the banister. 

"Wh-what are you doing?" Elle asked fearfully asshe hurried over to her puppets and began gathering them up into the large sack that The Hulk had given her. 

"Making an appearence for myself." Deadpool pretty much giggled as he lounged on the railing, arms folded behind his head. "Gotta make this look good. Get behing the couch and stay down. When I say run, go out the back door and go as fast as you can. Leave the rest up to me. I will catch up to you." He told her giggling. 

Elle just gave him a bewildered look before she gasped as there came a loud pound on the door. She barely had time to duck down when the door came smashing inward, landing hard pn the floor. 

In came that one blonde masked man from the Casino, striding in as if it was his home. "Honey, I'm home!" He called smugly as he looked around. "Hey, Ellie Toulon! Come quietly and you won't be......." he suddenly cut himself off when he noticed the red and black garbed man lounging on the banister. "Who the fuck.......?!" 

"Ya know what they say when a guy comes home, seeing another man in his house, laying on his railings?" Deadpool asked in a sly way, completely relaxed. He grinned under his mask and sat up on the railing without losing his balance, holding up his hands. "This ain't what it looks like, pal! I....I.....I.....she came on to me! I totally did not fuck your mother!" 

The man, Hardball growled as he raised both arms, which began to emit the energy balls but he stopped when a slender hand garbed in green touched his arm. He merely glanced at the woman in green as she came in from behind him, looking intrigued. 

"Who are you?" Carmilla Black asked as she placed her hand on her curvy waist. 

Deadpool took one look at her before jumping up onto the banister and crouching forward, looking her over. "Yowza! Damn, you're hot! Nice assets!" He said as he looked directly at her chest. 

Behind the couch, Elle's face fell in dispan and her puppets growled and hissed in the bag as they peered out of the bag.

"Thanks." Carmilla said in between being smug and disgust of him staring. She shifted. "Now, you are?" 

"The name," Deadpool said now hopping down and sweeping into a graceful bow at the waist. "Is Deadpool, known as thMerc with a mouth. And now, I am going to have to ask you to leave. You're tresspassing in someone's house." 

Carmilla glanced side wards at Elle, who shrank behind the couch before looking back at Deadpool. "I have heard of you, Deadpool. You are paid to do things. Give us the girl and her toys and you will be paid handsomely. Do not and you die." She said now coldly. 

Deadpool snorted before he shifted his feet into a stance and he slowly reached up, grabbing one of his swords, slowly pulling it. "Ya know, you almost had me at being paid handsomely. And then like a fucking Hydra agent idiot, you had to threaten." He now said with a dangerous but trickster tone as he held himself at a stance. "You don't get shit done by threatening, hot bitch." He said, sounding as if he was grinning under that mask and it was obvious he was. 

"Kill him, Hardball and then get the girl. You have five minutes." Carmilla said coldly before she turned around and walked back out of the house to where there was a nice sized group of Hydra Agents waiting, armed to the teeth.

Hardball grinned now punching a hand into his other palm and looking smugly at Deadpool, who seemed to grin right back. "This is gonna be easy. You might have a reputation for being a great merc but you are just a man. Imma gonna rip you a part." He said now starting forward. 

There was a series of crashes from the house as the Hydra Agents waited, listening to the battle that was taking place inside. They saw a few balls of energy come crashing out of the walls, the roof and even through windows. They even heard gun fire and cries of pain as if someone was getting the beating of their life inside. 

But all were sure it was Deadpool. They all were sure Hardball was winning the fight. 

That is......until, he came crashing through the front window, covered in blood, glass and even had a few bullet holes in his body. He was still alive and groaning as he rolled on the ground. But everyone was shocked to see that he was severely beaten. 

"You made three mistakes." Deadpool said as he now came out the front door and every one of the Hydra Agents were shocked to see one of his own swords was protruding directly from the center of his chest. It seemed Hardball had tried to kill him with his own weapons. "One, you threatened to kill me." The Merc held up a finger. "Two, you sent this fucker to do it." A second finger went up. "And three, you didn't do your fucking homework. I am Deadpool and I just can't fucking die." He said now holding up all three fingers only to drop two of them and leaving up his middle finger. 

There was an unsettling silence for a moment before Carmilla snarled and shot all Hydra Agents a dark look. "Kill him! Shoot him!" She snapped. 

The Hydra Agents snapped up their guns and prepared to fire at him, giving him everything they.........

"HOLD IT!!! NO ONE FIRE!! PAUSE THE STORY!!!" Deadpool suddenly bellowed out and everything seemed to freeze, very much like a movie being paused. 

Turning from the action that was about to happen, Deadpool looked straight at your computer screen and zoomed in close for a better look. "Hey, you!" He called, pointing at you through your screen. "Yeah, you! Before I kick some serious ass here, I need a beat! Ya know! Totally kick ass, get down and dirty, action music!" He points up at the corner of your screen where it had the down size button. "Click that line to down size your screen, open up a new internet page, log on into Youtube and play something! Me, I prefer something with heavy metal rock! Like Disturbed or something! So if ya want to do it my way, pull up Disturbed's Pain Redefined!" 

.................

Deadpool does not look amused at you.

.......................

"Well?!" He demands impaitently.

...................................

Deadpool scowls at you and folds his arms, tapping his foot impatiently. "Hey, reader! We don't got all day! Just fucking pick something already!" He growls in a scowl. "If ya want to play Drwoning Pool's Bodies, then go right ahead! But pick something I can totally kick some bad guy ass to!" 

Then Deadpool grins when a song finally begins to blare from the reader's speakers and he nods. "Awesome! Great ass kicking choice of music! Now let's get down to it!" He cheers, fist pumping into the air before turning back to the Hydra Agents and pulls his swords just as everything roars to life. 

The Hydra Agents began firing their guns at Deadpool who immediately kicks it into gear, moving to dodge the bullets while his swords are now like spinning blades, deflecting the pieces of hot and sharp bits of metal before he leaps into the air towards a group of the Hydra Agents, swords slashing and dicing through flesh, sending blood flying through the air and screams of pain echoed into the air. 

Spinning on his heel, Deadpool lashed out a red hard soled boot and kicked one of the Hydra Agent's head, snapping his neck immediately and sending his body flying through the air where it was cut into pieces by his fellow Hydra Agents' machine gun fire. 

Leaping into the air, spinning rapidly in circles, the Merc with a Mouth slid his swords away in lightning speed and pulled his twin guns. He began firing back at the Hydra Agents, sending brains flying out of the back of their heads when he shot them in the head. 

Carmilla Black could only watch in rage as she took cover behind an armored vehicle with the Hydra logo on the side. She couldn't believe this. Sure, she had heard of Deadpool! He was a fucking mercenary who was a gun for hire! But nothing in her reports said he could take a hit like Hardball had done before and still come out kicking and alive! 

"Looks like the Hydra Heads need to update the profile on Deadpool." She growled as she watched Deadpool anniliate her forces with such speed and flexibility. He wasripping all of the a part in gun fire and even a swish of his swords. 

Deadpool was now laughing insanely as he flipped and rolled between Hydra soldiers, who were trying to keep up but failing terribly. He was having a little too much fun with this. 

Still in the house, crouching at the window, Elle and her puppets watched the battle out in the night with shock and alarm. She hadn't thought this Deadpool was this good. She glanced at Blade when he made a noise before nodding in agreement. "Ye-yeah. You're right, Blade. We would have to be crazy to use this guy's help." She said uncertainly before stiffening when she saw the Hydra Agent, Carmilla Black now making her way towards the house, looking like a force to be reckoned with. 

"Shit." Elle said now stumbling to her feet and looking at the Hydra Agent in fear. 

The puppets growled and began forming a barricade in between the approaching deadly beauty and their master, weapons raised and ready. 

Suddenly a flash of black and red came popping out of a sulfric cloud of dark smoke and a gun was pressed to a now surprised Carmilla Black's forhead. She had no choice but to halt and raise her hands in surrender. 

"Eh, eh, hotstuff. Don't make me have to blow your brains out like I did all of those fuckers." Deadpool said in a dark amusement as he waggled a blood coated finger at her. He kept his gun pressed against her forehead and ppinted over at the fallen Hardball. "Do yourself a favor, babe, take your boyfriend and your sexy tight ass back to Hydra H.Q and do not come after me and Angel cakes. Cause if ya do, I will be blowing brain matter all over the ground." 

Carmilla glared at him but slowly stepped back, her hands still raised. "I don't know how we missed the memo about you now protecting Eleanor Toulon and her toys but the next time we come across you, you are dead." She hissed now backing away towards her partner and fellow mutant. 

"Ye-ah, good luck with that. I'd be rich if I charged every person who has ever said that." Deadpool snorted before tilting his head. "Hey, why don't we?" He suddenly spoke in a high pitched voice making Carmilla blink in surprise. 

"Not now, Deadpool voice number three. We can talk about it later." Deadpool said again before looking back at Carmilla who looked bewildered. "Miss Toulon, little dudes and lady," he motioned to behind him, holding his hand out. "Come here." 

Elle and her puppets hesistated before slowly climbing out of the broken window and moving towards the Merc. "Ye-yes?" She asked slowly, hugging Jester to her. 

"Pack up your puppets, Angel. We're leaving." Deadpool sad gun still trained on Carmilla Black. 

Nodding, Elle quickly bent down and filed her puppets back into the duffle bag and swung it over her shoulder. She stepped over to the Merc in red and black when he motioned her to. And then squeaked in surprise when Deadpool swung an arm around her waist, pulling her directly against his body, holding her tightly against him. 

"By the way, what's your name, hot stuff?" Deadpool asked looking at the woman in green. 

Carmilla glared at him but lift her head. "Carmilla Black. That is Hardball. And we are going to help my team destroy you, Deadpool even if it is the last thing we do." She hissed hatefully. 

"I am gonna start charging people for those kind of threats." Deadpool said chuckling darkly before he, Elle Toulon and the puppets were gone in a flash of dark smoke, teleporting away and leaving a fuming Carmilla Black with Hardball and all of her dead Hydra squad.


	8. Chapter Seven

BAMFT!!

The sound of retching was all he needed to hear before quickly releasing his passenger, letting her stumble away from him and then watched her as she practically dropped her duffle bag full of puppets and bending over. 

"BLECH!" 

Bile rose and exploded from her mouth as she threw up the pizza she had eaten not even an hour ago. It was all she could do. She had felt such a lurch in her stomach during that ride that it had twisted it, turned it inside out until putting it right back into place, upsetting it badly. 

"Oops. I forgot that teleportation doesn't do well on first timers. Eick. You got throw up all over my floor." Deadpool said grimacing at the sight of regurgitated pizza. 

Elle groaned a little as she just remained bent over, holding her stomach before finally looking at Deadpool. "I.....uh....never want to do that again." She moaned still feeling queasy. She looked down at the Puppet's as they surrounded her, probably making sure she was okay. 

Deadpool huffed but seemed amused. "Ah, it's not that bad. Once you get used it, it's actually a lot of fun." He then grimaced agaon when she retched again. "Okay. If you're going to throw up again, do it in the bathroom. It's just right over there." He said pointing to a semi closed door. 

Elle sucked in a breath as she tried to calm herself down but then managed to keep it down. She took a moment to settle herself before looking around, not really knowing where she was and froze. 

The room she was in.....it looked like a studio apartment. It was large enough for a bachelor but......it was a complete mess. 

Deadpool ' s apartment was a somewhat dark place with brick walls and flickering over lights. There were a few pizza boxes laying everywhere, some used napkins, a computer desk with a mediocre laptop on it, huge sound system boxes by a flat screen TV, a shelf full of movies but by the looks of them they were either action movies or.. ..porn. And to make it all worse, there was a doll in the corner. 

A blow up doll. 

Elle ' s eyes widened as she continued to look around before she looked directly at Deadpool who was moving over to a conjoining room. She couldn't help but shudder in some disgust at the state of this place. 

But curiosity won and she followed him to see where he was......

The room he was heading to was probably his own bed room. It did have a disheveled bed that looked like the sheets hadn't been changed in a while. There was a closet full of costumes just like the one he was wearing so he did have spares, but there was also some extra clothes that looked causual. 

But it was the wall to the side that had her stiffen. It was covered in arsenal. Guns, knives, a bazooka, all sorts of weapons were all over it. 

"So, welcome to my crib. You can make yourself comfortable however you'd like. I don't have much food here. But I can order take out. Sorry about the mess. Wasn't expecting guests otherwise I'd cleaned it up." Deadpool said as he hung up his weapons. 

"This is.....your place? Where are we?" Elle asked not able to hide the disgust. 

If Deadpool heard it he didn't react to it. He just turned around and looked at her. "Yep! This is my little piece of Heaven. I know it don't look much but it's safe here. I can guarantee your safety in this shithole. Not even S.H.I.E.L.D knows about this......." he was saying. 

And then there was a knock on the door. 

Elle jumped and spun around to look at it, her puppets immediately at her side, all growling and hissing while Deadpool was the one to huff irritably as he grabbed one of his guns off the shelf and arch past her and to the door. 

Without so much as a glance at her, the merchant swung open the door and pointed the gun at whoever it was. 

"Oh." Deadpool said a second later as he lowered the gun. "Well that was fast, Coolson. Hey, you even brought that." He remarked. 

"As soon as you left, we sent The Avengers in to chase off the rest of the Hydra Agents and I retrieved it. I suspect that Miss Toulon would want to have it back." The S.H.I.E.L.D Agent said as he just stood there. 

Deadpool huffed but stepped to the side. "You know, you just made me look like a lying asshole just now. I just barely told her that you assholes don't know where we are." He said waving the man in.

Agent Coulson walked in, dragging the huge trunk behind him, though he did pause to look at Elle and her puppets, who were growling and staying very close to her with their weapons drawn and pointed at him. 

Slowly nodding to her, Coulson turned back to Deadpool. "I can promise you, it is just me. I am the only one who knows where you are. I talked Nick Fury to backing off and not looking at the tracker, which I had my IT from my team disable the tracker. Not even The Avengers know where you are." He paused. "Well, actually Stark and Thor might but they won't come here until she wants them to. Stark is going to give her space because his fiance warned him to and Thor probably knows your location because of an Asgardian has the power to locate anyone any where telepathically. He probably as his gatekeeper keeping an eye on her as well as his own girl he cares about." 

Finally he turned towards Elle. 

"Miss Toulon, I am Agent Phil Coulson from S.H.I.E.L.D. I am not here to hurt you or force you to go with me. I just wanted to bring back this to you." The Agent said patting the trunk. "I also want to reassure you that nothing will happen to you or your puppets." 

"I am not reassured." Elle said in between blankly and being frightened. 

Coulson just nodded. "There is nothing I can say or do to reassure you or keep you from being frightened. That's why I am going to offer you this." He said patting his jacket before holding out his arms to his sides. "Deadpool, would you please take it from my holster. I would not reach for it and make the Puppet's start shooting me or cutting me up." He said calmly. 

Deadpool huffed again but went over to pat him down before getting into his jacket and pulling out a gun. He held it up before popping open the bullets case and frowned at the glowing blue rounds in it. "What the fuck is this?" He asked bewildered.

"We call it the ICERS. It's basically a strong tranquilizer that can knock out both humans and those with powers. I don't think it will work on you because of your healing factor." Coulson said as he finally stepped back away from the merchant and folded his arms. "I am curious on finding out but I won't do it. I know my team members, Fritz and Simmons would like to know but like I said........" 

"Ah, fuck it. Let's try it out." Deadpool said as he snapped the casing back in and turned it onto himself and fired the gun. 

And he dropped to the floor. 

For a moment, all Elle, Coulson and the Puppets could do was stare, one calm and the others hissing and looking at the agent in unease. Especially when Deadpool didn't get back up. 

Coulson sighed before moving over to the couch and sat down, folding his arms and crossed his legs, fully of the fearful look he was getting. "I'm just going to sit here and wait for him to wake up. You're welcome to join me." He said warmly. 

For a long moment, Elle didn't move but then she slowly moved over to the cushy chair and sat down, facing him and the Puppets joined her. 

"Why aren't you......?" She started to ask. 

"Trying to capture you and take you and your puppets back to HQ?" Coulson finished for her. "Because your an innocent. I should be doing it because of how strong your powers are but as far as I know, you've never used them to hurt a single person. Bad or good. So I am taking a risk here and giving you the benefit of doubt. Besides, I am the one who owes you, Miss Toulon. Regretfully, I am the one that your grandfather was killed for. And while I am grateful to be alive, I also regret it." He told her. 

Elle stared for a moment and the puppets hissed and growled. "You......?" She asked slowly. 

Coulson nodded solemnly. "Yes. Me. I am very, very sorry what was done, Miss Toulon. I really am. You were hurt very badly because of my death and reanimation. And I want to make that up to you. I am not going to take you in or turn you in because I feel like I should owe you." He told her. 

Elle stared at him for a moment before she softened and relaxed. And so did the puppets. They even put their weapons away. 

"Thank you." 

Coulson smiled at her and nodded. He then looked around, grimacing. "This place.....it's not suitable for your safety. Deadpool is nearly a legendary merchandise but.....I never imagined he lived in a place like this. Its......" he paused trying to find the right words. 

"Disgusting." Elle finished for him glaring around the room. "I really do not want to stay here. This.....this is worse than I've stayed in. He is a slob." She remarked. 

Coulson laughed before standing up and removing his jacket and rolled up his sleeves. "How about we clean up while we wait for him to wake up?" He asked. 

Elle couldn't help but smile as she stood up and rolled up her own sleeves. "Never thought I'd ever agree with a S.H.I.E.L.D agent." She remarked. And the puppets hissed in agreement as they made to move and help.


End file.
